Mist
by PMOHWinters
Summary: Karla Wellings and her platoon are in a continual battle against the Covenant on a fog choked world for what may be Humanity's last chance, but the strange mist hanging in the air hides more than just the enemy... COMPLETE
1. Prologue: Shot heard round the World

Mist  
  
My first true Halo fic. Just to tell you, this is just a prologue, and it doesn't really have any sort of direct connection to the main story.  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Prologue: Shot Heard round the World  
  
February 3, 2525  
UNSC space, just several thousand kilometers from Harvest  
  
"Captain!"  
  
"What is it, ensign?"  
  
"S-sir. You should come look at this! It's nothing, I mean NOTHING we've ever seen before!"  
  
Well, now this certainly piqued Captain Edward Welllings' curiosity. Last he had heard, there wasn't supposed to be anything of interest in this sector.  
  
"Well, ensign..."  
  
"Wilkens, sir."  
  
"Wilkens. Tell me what's going on."  
  
The young man hesitated for a moment.  
  
"Uhh, I'm not sure how to explain this sir."  
  
Captain Wellings leaned forward to get a closer look at the crewman. _Jesus, these kids just get younger every day._  
  
"By all means. Just put in the most blunt term possible then."  
  
"Sensors just picked up an unidentified ship sir! Aliens!"  
  
Captain Wellings was already making his way to the bridge.  
  
By the time Captain Wellings reached the bridge, he found, much to his disgust, somebody already there waiting for him.  
  
"Ah, Captain Wellings. Finally found a decent time to actually come to the bridge, have you?"  
  
Captain Wellings ignored Lieutenant Holsom's snide remark. The man was from ONI, which meant that he outranked Wellings by light years.  
  
"No sir. I believe that YOU would have better things to do than sending a UNSC warship out in the middle of nowhere without telling me or my crew why?"  
  
"Hardly."  
  
"I'm sure. Soshi, what's this 'alien' ship I'm hearing about?"  
  
The young sensor tech turned around from her console.  
  
"I'm getting strange readings from bearing oh-two-niner. Surface scans can't get a match on any known UNSC or human craft, and its using some sort of signal frequency that the computer can't get a solid fix on, much less decode..."  
  
"Get me a visual."  
  
"Sir, we're not in visual range yet."  
  
"Then by god, GET us in visual range!"  
  
"Aye, captain!"  
  
Captain Wellings sat down as his ship, the _Thunderbolt_, rumbled to life. He felt slight G-forces as the massive frigate turned and accelerated toward the alien craft. He turned to see Lieutenant Holsom's reaction to this and frowned. For what could possibly be the find of the century, the discovery of sentient alien life, Holsom looked horribly pale and nervous. Wellings just shook his head and turned his attention back to the bridge. How ONI spooks thought wasn't his concern.  
  
"We are in visual range, Captain!"  
  
"Put it up on screen 1."  
  
The screen in front of Wellings buzzed to life. First as a sea of gray static, but soon melted into a black void of white pinpricks. In the middle of the screen, Wellings could make out a small, purple teardrop just floating in the void.  
  
"Is this it?"  
  
"Yes sir. The ship doesn't appear to be moving under any power, but we've confirmed comm traffic emanating from the craft. Decision sir?"  
  
Wellings stopped and thought for a moment.  
  
"Get us into comm range, then try to hail it."  
  
"Aye, Captain."  
  
"No! Captain! Stop what you're doing, NOW!"  
  
The sudden outburst startled the entire bridge crew, though only Wellings turned to face him. The ONI officer was now extremely agitated and hysterical.  
  
"Lieutenant! Calm down or I'll be forced to restrain you!"  
  
"You don't understand do you!?!? Turn the ship around!!"  
  
"I will do no such thing, Lieutenant! We are about to make contact with a sentient alien race for the first time in human history! This is no time to become squeamish!"  
  
"CAPTAIN! If you move this ship any farther, we'll all die! _They'll kill every one of us_!"  
  
"LIEUTENANT!" Wellings was screaming at the top of lungs now. "YOU WILL STAND DOWN."  
  
"I'm in command of this mission!"  
  
"And I'm in command of this ship! If you can't keep your behavior in line, you can cool off in the brig! Is that clear?!"  
  
Before Holsom could even answer, there was shriek in the bridge.  
  
"Captain!"  
  
Wellings momentarily took his attention off of Holsom and turned to the crewwoman.  
  
"The alien ship has suddenly accelerated and it's headed right towards us! It's on a collision course!"  
  
Wellings thought quickly about his option. Alien contact or risk losing his ship and crew. It didn't take long to choose.  
  
"Weapons! Arm the Archer pods! All of them! and power up the MAC! If that thing gets any closer, I want you blow it out of the sky!"  
  
"Aye captain!"  
  
Suddenly, Holsom worked up the nerve to speak again.  
  
"Captain! NO! If you take one shot at that ship, you'll doom us all!"  
  
"And if I don't, we collide and we all die anyways!"  
  
"_You don't understand_! You take one shot and you doom every fucking human being in this galaxy!"  
  
"Alien ship closing fast! Thirty seconds until impact!"  
  
"_Captain_!"  
  
Wellings finally had had enough. He quickly called over a group of four Marines.  
  
"I've finally had enough of your insubordination, Lieutentant! Sergeant Holmes! Restrain Lieutenant Holsom and take him to the brig!"  
  
The Marines quickly complied and yanked the mad Lieutenant from the bridge.  
  
"Captain! Twenty seconds until impact!"  
  
"Fire Archer missiles A through F!"  
  
Suddenly, another voice from the bridge cried out.  
  
"Alien ship breaking off!"  
  
Bile suddenly surged up though Captain Wellings as he realized his mistake.  
  
"Weapons! Belay that-"  
  
But is was too late. Hundreds of missiles shot out from the Thunderbolt and began to converge on the alien ship. The alien ship stopped and fired some sort of plasma energy beam. There was a bright blue flash, and suddenly dozens of missiles exploded in mid flight, though Wellings knew that no ship could survive getting pounded by a full vollley of Archer missiles.  
  
Explosions rippled over the alien craft as the Archer missiles found their mark. Wellings expected to see the twisted and burnt remains of the ship.  
  
"Soshi, get me a damage report on the alien ship. Maybe it wasn't totally destroyed."  
  
"Uh, sir. Sensors are showing that the ship is still in one piece, and fully functional!"  
  
"What?!"  
  
Wellings turned to look out the viewport, and saw the alien craft still floating there as some silvery shimmer slowly faded away.  
  
"What in God's name..."  
  
Suddenly, the alien ship fired back. A single blue plasma bolt shot at them, but it missed and grazed to the port side of the Thunderbolt.  
  
"Sir! Multiple hull breaches on decks 3 to 10!"  
  
"Internal fires on decks 4 and 6..."  
  
"We've got dozens of casualty reports coming in, sir!"  
  
"My god, it's an act of war! Sensors! I want to know why the hell that ship is still there! Weapons, fire all remaining missiles and the MAC cannon! I want that thing dead and dead NOW."  
  
More missiles shot out at the alien craft, and most were destroyed by its plasma beams. The few missiles that did get through stopped short just several hundred meters as the same silvery shimmer stopped them. The MAC round also shot through, smashed into the silver wall, and bounced off like a rubber ball.  
  
The entire bridge crew stood stunned. They had never seen a ship take a direct hit from a MAC and stay in one piece, much less be completely unphased.  
  
"W-weapons. Do we have anything bigger than the MAC?"  
  
The crewman at the Weapons console was lost for words, and his voice was barely a whisper.  
  
"N-no sir."  
  
Then, Soshi's voice cut in again.  
  
"We're receiving a transmission from the alien craft, on the D-band."  
  
"Play it."  
  
Suddenly, all the screens came to life. All filled with six simple words:  
  
**YOU SHALL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES  
**  
Captain Wellings suddenly didn't know why, but he suddenly thought about his two daughters. One back at his home colony, just graduating into high school. The other, at the UNSC Officer Training Academy on Reach...  
  
Then the alien craft fired. The Thunderbolt and its crew passed from ship, to silhouette, to legend.  
  
Unknown Location  
  
In a dark room, hidden away from public knowledge, a figure sat in front of a computer screen, reading the same message over and over.  
  
STATUS REPORT  
  
_Border reconnaissance of Harvest system total failure. [i]Thunderbolt[/i] has violated treaty by crossing into Covenant-controlled space. All contact with [i]Thunderbolt[/I] lost. All operatives currently working on covering up the event. No contact from Covenant ambassadors.  
  
Lieutenant Haverson_  
  
END REPORT  
  
The figure sat there for ten endless minutes to have the small report sink in. Finally he managed to mutter.  
  
"May God help us all..." 


	2. Battlefield Woes

Author's Notes: Well, here comes the REAL story now, and in reply to B.R. Wells. I will base some things off of the books, but the _Thunderbolt _is just my own little spin about what happened at Harvest.  
Also, I'll be messing with the time a little. Karla is supposed to be in her twenties, and this is supposed to be taking place roughly the same time as the game, so disregard the 27 year difference.

Chapter 1: Battlefield Woes  
  
August 30, 2552  
Aeola, in the Fenris System  
  
Aeola. Such a pretty name for such an uninspiring fog world. Aeola, located well inside of official UNSC-known space, was ironically totally unknown to anybody except for several high ranking officers in ONI, two UNSC destroyers, a force of Marines, 2 billion colonists, and the entire Covenant armada. The only thing that made Aeola special from any other world was its unique orbit. Rather than orbiting around one sun, this planet simultaneously orbited around two suns in a figure 8 loop. This odd configuration of planets and stars created massive, unexplainable electromagnetic fields, which fortunately, the Covenant ships could not tolerate for some reason while human-made UNSC ships seemed unaffected. Many hypothesized that the combined magnetic fields from both suns and Aeola disrupted the plasma energy that powers the Covenant ships, though the reason why still remains unknown.   
  
So if this uninhabited system is so dangerous to the Covenant, why are is there an armada of nearly 40 ships lurking around the fringes of the system? Why did they land such a huge ground force on Aeola? Because in orbit around the planet, a massive UNSC shipyard is, taking advantage of the protection offered by the curious magnetic forces, building what could be humankind's last hope of success against the Covenant. A very special ship aptly named the _Freedom_.  
  
"Hey, El Tee!"  
  
"Huh?" Lieutenant Karla Wellings looked up from her Warthog to see who it was.  
  
"What is is, Boxer?"  
  
"Captain Armbruster is askin for you! Says its important."  
  
_Great, over 300 combat missions against the Covenant, and I don't even get a scratch. Get transferred back to my home colony, and my CO gets me killed on the first day by sending me on some half-baked patrol.  
_  
"Where is he?"  
  
"Company HQ."  
  
"Great. Go tell him I'm on the way. And go check on second squad while you're at it. See if they got that roadblock set up on the east side of town."  
  
"Yes ma'am!"  
  
Wellings slammed her Warthogs hood down and started walking to the Company HQ. She really had no idea where it was, but she had the general idea that it would be over at the town hall. _They always put them in the most obvious places. At least it makes them easy to find._ Wellings stopped for a second and took the moment to absorb her surroundings. It's been quite a while since she'd last seen home. Even with an entire Covenant army swarming all over the place, nothing seems to have changed around here.  
  
Aeola was home to about 2 billion human colonists. Most were scattered around the planet in small towns and even villages, and there were actually very few major cities. This made the planet seem very rural and undeveloped. Many people would've been under the misconception that having to orbit two suns would make the planet extremely hot. Actually, it couldn't be farther from the truth. The atmospheric conditions blocked out a huge amount of solar radiation, making Aeola very cool and very foggy. Everyday, it wasn't a question of whether it was going to be foggy or not, just how thick it was going to be.  
  
Wellings continued walking through the streets. Right now, her company, the Death's Head Legion, aka D Company was stationed in the town of Kenwood, not so much as its strategic importance, but because it held a bridge that was vital to civilian evacuation. Even though there really wasn't much chance the Covvies would glass the planet, that didn't stop them from landing huge armies on the planet surface. Right now, there were only five thousand Marines in this sector, with over forty towns spanning hundreds of miles. Covering all of these locations proved all but impossible, so every town was advised to evacuate to Lorain. What made Lorain so special was that it was the largest city in the area, it had a permanent military installation, and it held the fusion reactors that were vital in powering the orbiting shipyards building the Freedom. Right now, the Kenwood Bridge was the only avenue of escape from the Covenant for every town on the north side of that river, and the stream of civilian vehicles crossing the bridge still showed no sign of ending.  
  
As for her company, the Death's Head Legion, she was in command of its mechanized platoon. A unit exclusively made up of Warthogs. This gave the Death's Heads unparalleled mobility and speed, making them one of the more dangerous Marine units. Unfortunately, their combat effectiveness was not the result of exemplary leadership from the higher brass, but rather the lower ranking officers and NCOs who had the initiative and courage to hold the company together and salvage success from poor planning and intelligence. The unfortunate result was that higher ranking officers often took the credit for their accomplishments and used them as excuses to climb even higher up the promotion ladder.  
  
Captain Armbruster was one such man. He made no attempt to get to know his men. He just thought up of the best way to get them all killed, convinced the top brass to put their stamp of approval on it, and send the Death's Heads into yet another suicide mission that would presumably fail, and when Wellings and her fellow Marines managed to win despite overwhelming odds, the Captain gained even more favor with the top brass, convincing them to approve even more hairbrained missions that only the craziest Helljumpers would accept. It was basically a no-win scenario for Wellings and her Marines.  
  
_At least in the Helljumpers, you died fighting the Covvies, not from stupid decisions..._  
  
"Lieutenant Wellings! Its about damn time you got here! It seems that your father's habit of being late all the time has rubbed off on you!"

_...and fighting each other._  
  
As always, Captain Armbruster was in a foul mood. Especially when he started a conversation with her. The Captain just loved sending her on the suicide missions and making snide remarks on her father. Wellings suspected that Armbruster was trying to find a way to get her killed yet make it look like his hand was behind it. Like I'm going let him do that.  
  
"I'm sorry, but it was my sister's birthday. I was out getting her a present, _sir_."  
  
"You will treat superior officers with respect, _lieutenant_!"  
  
Everybody else in the room shook their heads and went back to their tasks. These verbal matches happened all the time, and interfering would just put you in the crosshairs of two of the most ill-tempered officers in the entire Marine Corps.  
  
_Damn, I wonder how Sam is doing. At least she doesn't have to put with this crap._


	3. Dead can walk My ass

Chapter 3: "Dead can walk" My ass.

August 30, 2552  
Aeola, Fenris System  
Two Hours Later

Two hours later, Wellings and her platoon were already on the road. Her orders were to scout a suspected Covenant position. The only problem was, they had no idea how many Covvies were out there, or if there were any at all. But right now, she was distracted by thoughts about her little sister, Sam, or Samantha. Last time Karla had seen her sister, it was when she was boarding the transport to Reach to attend the UNSC Officer Training Academy. Karla had hoped to bump into her at Kenwood, since their hometown, Marino, was on the north side of the river.

_Guess the brass have different plans though._

Welling's discontent for this mission was universally shared by the rest of her platoon. Even though it was UNSC regulation to maintain comm silence, most Marines ignored it and constantly filled the comm-bands with personal chatter.

"Hey El-Tee."

Wellings recognized that voice. It was Sgt. Williams, the squad leader for second squad.

"Yeah, sergeant?"

"Let me go through this again. Command wants us to go scout a totally unknown and unmapped section of forest, for an undetermined amount of Covvies? Do we even know how many there are?"

"The Cap said their intel was 'sketchy and fairly reliable."

"Bullshit. They have no freaking idea what's out there, but they're sending us in anyways."

"Yeah, that's the same thing I told them."

Another voice cut in.

"Holy shit, you mean to tell me we actually have _intel_?"

"That's right, Johns. But only for today."

"Man, why couldn't they get third platoon to do this?"

"Because third platoon is busy training the local militia. Besides, you know the Cap's pet platoon is too good to go on a 'routine patrol'."

A chorus of grunts and acknowledgments filled the comm.

An hour later, the sixteen Warthogs pulled into yet another town. Their last stop to civilization. Wellings took a look at the sign.

**Welcome to Molino  
****Pop: 6,000  
****Elev: 3,000**

Wellings frowned. She had been to Molino before, and she knew from personal experience that the people who lived around here were as superstitious as they were paranoid, and there was plenty of both to go around in this town.

"Cobbs, Peterson, I want you to take two Hogs through town. See if anybody knows the surrounding area and is willing to be a guide."

"Yes ma'am!"

Wellings watched the two men drive off into the mist. She seriously doubted that they would succeed. The townspeople in Molino were deathly afraid to leave town, much less their own homes. The believed all sorts of strange and evil creatures and spirits were waiting in the mist and surrounding forest, waiting to leap at them and drag them away.

_I wonder why the hell they even moved here in the first place._

Twenty minutes later, both men returned, with a civilian vehicle in tow. Wellings was thoroughly surprised.

"Hey, you finally got someone to come with us?"

"Not exactly, El-Tee. This guy says he's here to warn us."

The civilian vehicle in the rear stopped, and a very elderly man staggered out of the drivers seat.

"No... turn back, please."

"Cobbs, explain."

The young private hesitated.

"Well, we've been asking around, but everybody was too scared to even face us. This guy came up and just told us to bring him to you. Said the mountains were dangerous."

"And so are the Covenant. So, old man, are you going to be helping us, or do we have to tear up that mountain ourselves?"

"I'm sorry, I can't help you. Even I don't know what's out here."

"What? But you live here. Shouldn't you know the surrounding area?"

The old man now looked throughly frightened.

"No, you don't understand! Nobody goes up there. Ever. _Nobody._"

"And why is that?"

The old man took a look around, as if he were searching for any evil spirits that might've been eavesdropping. He then carefully walked up to Wellings and whispered in her hear.

"_Because that's where the dead can walk..."_

"Hey El-Tee, are you sure we should be up here? I mean, that guy seemed really scared."

"Williams, are you going to take the word of some crazy old guy who lives in a town full of them? 'Dead can walk' my ass."

"You sure? I mean, with zombies, I'd go up against the Covvies any day."

"Williams, you've been watching waaay too many of those 20th century horror flicks. I told you those things were bad for you. And Ryan! Tighten it up back there, the fog starts getting really thick up here!"

Just three kilometers away...

Zazat rushed up to try to find his Field Master, Raka Melazee. Zazat wished that he wouldn't have to be the one to report to the Elite about the bad news, but he lost the draw this time. The little grunt was now scared for his life. Melazee was known for his brutality on the battlefield, and that same brutality often extended to grunts as well. Finally, Zazat reached the command post. He gulped and stepped inside.

"Field Master!"

Melazee, who was busy studying reports about the local human activity, did not even bother to turn and face the grunt.

"What is it, grunt?"

"I h-have a report from t-the dig teams, Field Master!"

This time, Melazee turned around.

"Report."

"W-well, progress i-i-is going well, b-but-"

Melazee was starting to get impatient.

"WHAT!?"

"The teams accidentally released some of the creatures within the structure!"

Melazee roared in rage and started swiping reports, weapons, and all sorts of items from the tables. Zazat feared that soon it was going to be _him_ flying through the air.

"But the they've eliminated all of the creatures! Except for one..."

Melazee regained enough to control to grab the grunt by the neck and growl.

"Then _find it_."


	4. Eagle Eyes

Author's note: Yeah, new chapter. Don't worry if the beginning doesn't make much sense right now. I'll flesh out as the story goes on. Also, if your still wondering what the hell the _Freedom_ is and what it has to do with the story, well, lets just say you won't have to worry about that until the sequel...

Chapter 4: Eagle Eyes

"Hey! Sniper! Up front!"

No answer.

"Damnit, Wellings, get up here!"

"Already am, sir!"

Sergeant Donald Paccone almost jumped in fright, but he quickly caught it and managed to reduce it to a stiffening of his muscles at the back of his neck. He turned the face the girl garbed in a gilly suit and holding a customized S2AM sniper rifle.

"Private, what have I told you about doing that?"

"Sorry sir! Won't do it again, sir!"

"Don't give me that candy-ass talk! Get up there! There may be a Covvie Shade up there and I don't want body parts flying if there is!"

Private Samantha Wellings gave Paccone one of her sickenly sweet smiles. She knew it had to infuriate the Sergeant and his men.

"Yes sir!"

Sam darted off into the forest and met up with her spotter, Private Leonardo Carter. Sam just called him "Leo", since saying "Leonardo" was a mouthful, and the fact that Leo hated his full name.

"Hey Eagle Eyes, I wouldn't be messing with the vets, you know. As I recall, this is your first actual combat mission."

"Yeah? Well until you nab a second mission under your belt, I'll just take your advice with a grain of salt."

Like Sam called Leonardo "Leo", Leo often called Sam "Eagle Eyes", as much for her sniping as that cold stare she gave when anybody but him called her that.

"Oh, I've been skewered the by the almighty Sam! Now I'll take seven hours to reevaluate my life."

"Cut it out, Leo. Lets see if your spotting skills are as good as you think they are. Sarge says there might be a Shade around here."

Leo took out his SharpSight and began setting it up. The SharpSight was a scope specially made for spotters working with snipers. It had a nearly 200x zoom capability along with multiple sight functions including infrared, nightvision, and electromagnetic. The only reason why the thing was never mounted on a rifle was because of its size and weight, both of which rivaled that of a light machine gun.

While Leo was busy mounting the SharpSight on its small tripod, Sam went prone and scanned the surrounding area for potential movement.

"See anything?"

"Um, lets see..."

Leo played around with some switches and swiveled the SharpSight around a little.

"I'm getting some unusual heat readings from that hilltop about twenty degrees to your right."

Sam shifted a little to comply with his instructions. Sure enough, she caught a bit of movement on the hilltop.

"You think you can make the shot"

"Leo, did you ever doubt my accuracy before?"

"Maybe."

"Traitor."

Sam put her scope on maximum zoom. On the hill, she saw the barrel of a Shade turret.

"Leo, radio the Sarge. Tell him when he hears a shot, charge the hill."

"You're actually going for it?"

"Yep."

Sam waited for a few seconds as Leo got onto the radio.

"Sarge says okay, and he hopes you know what you're doing."

"Just watch."

A sharp _crack_ filled the entire valley.

Twenty Miles Away... 

Lieutenant Karla Wellings ran up to the front of the Warthog formation. For some reason, the lead units abruptly stopped, nearly causing the entire convoy to crash end for end.

"This better be good, Williams. You're oh so great driving nearly got us off the road."

"Uhhh, El Tee, we've hit a little snag in our route."

"Snag?"

"Yeah, apparently, the maps we've got don't show this giant fucking crater in the middle of the road!"

Wellings took a closer look and did indeed see a sudden drop-off in the road.

"See kids? Crap like this is exactly what happens when you go on a mission with absolutely no intel!"

"Um, there's more, El-Tee."

The Marine pointed further down the crater. Wellings squinted and could barely make out the shape in the mist...

"My god, what the hell is that?"

"We don't know, ma'am, but our SharpSights show that's its some, massive _thing_. Architecture doesn't match any known human structure, and none of the Covenant ones we've encountered either."

Wellings muttered.

"ONI is going to have a field day with this..."

"What was that, ma'am?"

"Nothing. Anything else?"

"Yeah. Looks like the structure is surrounded by, oh... a hundred fifty Covvies, at least."

"Great, more targets."

"I would also like to point out that they have a lot, and I mean a LOT of heavy artillery and weapons emplacements scattered around their perimeter."

"That's why we call in a little air support."

"Huh?"  
"As I recall, Firebase Delta always keeps at least two Longswords hot and ready to go, for situations like these."

Williams finally caught on and smiled.

"Yes ma'am! What do you want me to say?"

"Tell them we've got something 'alien'. That should get their attention."

"And what do _we_ do?"

"I want second and third squads to drive around the crater and be prepared the flank the Covvies. Fourth squad goes in from behind, and first down the front. We attack on all sides. And please remember to use the crater lip to cover your movement."

"Signal?"

"Once the Longswords finish their strafing runs. The moment they hit their afterburners and speed home, we show the Covvies that the groundpounders are a lot worse than those Navy flyboys could ever be."

A mile away... 

A lone little creature wandered through the forest. This creature knew that it was called a Flood. The Flood creature seemed insignificant. It was no more than a little sack of flesh and tentacles, but inside, brewed a dark, sinister, and ancient entity. Though it was shackled due to the Flood drone's tiny brain, it managed to imprint one thought in the Drone's mind.

Vengeance 

The entity did not know why, as it was limited by the small brainpower of the drone, but it knew that it wanted revenge on something. But to do that, it needed a suitable body. The wildlife around the forest provided excellent sustenance, but none where adequate to suit its needs. No, it needed something bigger and better. It remembered its escape just days ago, in the bowels of that ancient structure. Those creatures that released and subsequently destroyed its brethren. It thought back to its escape and remembered one particular creature that it caught a glimpse of.

_Yes... that body will do._


	5. Hellfire and Damnation

1Chapter 5: Hellfire and Damnation

**Firebase Delta**

Captain William Rogers went through his preflight checklist for his Longsword. Everything the on-board computer ran a full system diagnostic, and put everything in the green.

"All right, Green squad, report in."

"Two is ready go."

"Three is good to go."

"Four has everything in the green."

"Five is ready to rock and roll!"

"Six is ready and willing."

Rogers smiled at his pilots' efficiency. He flipped several switches and adjusted his throttle. He was told this was going to be a normal strafing run to support a Marine attack, but in all his time here, Rogers had never needed more than two or three Longswords to provide air support. His orders insisted he'd take at least six, which was Firebase Delta's entire fighter complement. That guaranteed that their target wouldn't be left standing for long, but that also meant there would be no more Longswords available to support any other Marine units out there.

_This traget's gotta be big to have six Longswords going after it._

"Two, confirm the target location."

"NAV beacon reading nice and strong, Lead. ETA is five minutes."

**Somewhere in the Aeolan wilderness**

Kakat was part of a Covenant force tasked with holding this hilltop. Unfortunately, the hilltop was very exposed, and prone to airstrikes, which the humans seemed to love calling down. On duty with him was fellow Grunt Raran, who was manning their only Shade turret.

"Raran."

"What is it, Kakat?"

"I have a bad feeling."

"You always have bad feelings."

"I think there are humans out there."

Raran sighed. Kakat was always nervous and on edge during his shift.

"Kakat, I thought we went over this already. There were no humans here five units ago, no humans thirty units ago, no humans a cycle ago, and no humans for ten cycles! What will make this day any different?"

Kakat just stood there, unable to speak.

"That's right. There are no humans out there. You saw them. They are all too scared to come out here."

"But-"

"Kakat. There. Are. No. Humans. Here. Ever."

Then a sharp _crack _filled the air, as if to rebut Raran's last statement.

Kakat whipped around to find where the sound came from.

"Raran, did you hear that?"

No answer.

Kakat was almost too afraid to turn to face his fellow Grunt.

"Raran...?"

As if on cue, the moment Kakat turned around, Raran fell off the Shade and slumped to the ground, the top ten centimeters of his head missing. Before Kakat could do anything about it, however, the Grunt felt three spikes of pain blossoming from his back. Kakat looked down, and saw his armor stained blue with the color of Grunt blood. His blood. Kakat screamed.

Sergeant Paccone charged up the hill, kicked the Grunt over, and pumped four pistol rounds into its head.

Gunfire filled the air for a few short seconds, but gradually faded away. One Marine came running up to Paccone.

"Sir! We've cleared the hilltop!"

"Good job, soldier. How many?"

"Lets see, there were about four more Grunts, three Jackals, and an Elite. We took some casualties taking them out, but the wounds are minor."

"Excellent. Now go find wherever that sniper went. Tell her and her little boyfriend that we're moving out."

"Yes sir!"

As the Marine dashed off down the hill, Paccone took out a map and scanned it again. According to the briefing ONI gave him, the outpost they were supposed to find shouldn't be too far. He checked their position and noticed that they were only about three miles away now. Paccone had no idea what was at that outpost, but he had orders to get the outpost, make contact with any remaining Marines there, copy the outpost's databanks and then wait for retrieval. It was a simple grab and go, but Paccone couldn't help but feel there was more to this mission than he thought.

**Covenant Base Camp**

Lieutenant Wellings sat crouched beside her Warthog, still keeping watch on the Covvie base.

"Boxer, what's the ETA on those Longswords?"

"ETA one minute."

"Good. All squads, report."

"First squad is go."

"Second squad is here."

"Fourth squad is ready."

Wellings frowned. Third squad didn't report in.

"Third squad, report your condition."

There was a static buzz, and what sounded like gunfire. Suddenly, a voice filled the radio.

"This is third squad! We ran straight into a Covvie patrol! They're bugging out, but our position is compromised!"

Wellings turned to look at the base. Sure enough, there were already dozens of Grunts, Jackals, and Elites forming up on the eastern side. She quickly turned to Boxer.

"ETA?"

"Fifteen seconds."

Wellings could already hear the distinct humming sound of Longsword engines, and apparently, the Covenant could too. Many of them looked up in the sky in puzzlement, unsure of what to do, though some of the smarter ones wisely made their way to any available cover.

Then, like angry gods punishing the sinners, six Longswords soared over the edge of the crater and started letting loose with their weapons, unleashing waves of hellfire and damnation upon the enemy.. Like ants, the entire Covenant formation scattered in all directions. Some of them managed to climb over the lip of the crater and make a dash for the trees, only to get cut down by the Warthogs waiting for them on the other side. The braver and more foolish Covenant ineffectually fired in the air in an attempt to shoot down the aircraft, only making themselves more obvious targets. In the crater itself, missiles and 50mm rounds shredded anything and everything to pieces. Anything that was even vaguely flammable exploded and flared brightly. What was left of the Covenant force tried to make a mad dash for the alien structure, but one Longsword pilot caught them and flew over, dropping off a warhead filled with cluster mines. Explosions rippled across the front of the structure as Covenant soldiers saw their feet and legs being flung though the air like broken parts of a toy.

Then, with all of their ammuntion and fuel expended, the Longswords kicked in their afterburners and raced home as quickly as they had come. The remainder of the Covenant force, scarcely fifty soldiers, began to crawl out form whatever cover they had found, believing the worst was over. Oh, how wrong they were.

Wellings kicked her Warthog into high gear and accelerated. The vehicle gave an unearthly roar that would put fear into the hearts of even the bravest Marine, and leapt over the lip of the crater, heading straight for the Covenant. Fifteen more Warthogs did the same. With enemies bearing down on all sides, there was no possible way the remaining Covenant could win. Though there was almost no radio communication between the fours squads, each one knew what to do. They kept their distance from the Covenant force, and began circling around, slowly tightening the circle and firing 30mm shells and Jackhammer rockets into the writhing mass of enemies in the center. This tactic was standard for their unit, and was aptly named the "Death Roll".

In less than a minute, every Covenant soldier lay on the ground dead or dying. The only things left standing were the Death's Heads and the ominous alien structure.

Looking up at the massive gray building, Williams walked up to his commanding officer.

"So El-Tee... what now?"


	6. Reminiscing

Author's Note: Well, just as a note, I'm not going to follow the official Halo timeline anymore, since I sort of believe 27 years is just a little waaaay too long to be fighting a war, much less fit in to where my story is going. Also, this story is intended to be taking place during the same time as Halo, let's just assume the war started oh... four years ago. That works. (And if you don't like it, go write your own fanfic!)

PS: Sorry if this part doesn't seem very long. I promise to try to make them longer in the future!

PSS: Also, I would've posted this 3 days ago, but because one of my older fics, which was script based, got deleted, my account was locked "As result of a recent infraction". Because of this, I'll pay it back with another part very very soon.

Chapter 6: Reminiscing

Aeolan Wilderness 

Raka Melazee stumbled through the forest, cursing this infernal world and the humans on it. He sorely wished that the Covenant armada would come in and cleanse the planet of its sins, but with that cursed electromagnetic field, it was just not possible. Continue to wander through the forest, Melazee began thinking about his options. Regulations demanded that he was to find another Covenant base camp. From there, he could get reinforcements, find any of his scattered units, regroup, and stage a counterattack on the infidels. Unfortunately, Melazee's main concern was how to explain the loss of the Structure to the infidels. The Prophets were very clear on their need to find and hold these areas, and Melazee had witnessed the fates of many Elite officers who had failed to keep their promises. Melazee gulped. His neck still enjoyed the company of his head, and he wanted to keep it that way.

_The Flood drone kept a careful eye on the gold-armored Elite. It was waiting for the perfect moment to strike..._

Melazee thought of ways to try to squirm out of his punishment. He could say that he was caught off guard by the human attack, but then he would just be blamed for being sloppy and be told to send out more patrols to prevent that problem from happening in the first place. Then he'd have his head cut off.

_Patience... wait for the perfect moment, when the creature is most distracted... the least alert... then stirke..._

Melazee finally settled on a perfect explanation. He could say that he was inside the Structure, overseeing the excavation while his officers were outside in charge of defense. That would hold well. His is officers couldn't complain or defend themselves, seeing as they were all dead. Melazee smiled, and then raised his arm to swat away some brush blocking his view...

_NOW_

The second Melazee swept aside the brush, some strange... thing... jumped out and latched onto his face. The Elite shrieked and attempted to pull the creature off, but the creature had a firm hold and didn't seem inclined to let go. Melazee scrambled to take out his plasma pistol, but it was too late. He felt something pierce his neck, and everything went black.

**Unknown Structure**

"Okay, Williams. Anything new?"

"Uhh, new orders just came from ONI. They want us to hold this position until they can ship in reinforcements and a science team."

"Eggheads? That can't be good. And how much reinforcements are we talking about?"

"Lets see... they're sending in an entire regiment."

Wellings whistled. ONI must want this thing pretty badly for them to send such a large force.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. They said not to enter the building under ANY circumstances."

"Probably because ONI wants their eggheads to be the first to see what's inside."

"You're not excited?"

"I've really learned not to put my trust in ONI in the past years. They're more concerned with their snoopy politic-games rather than actually fighting -and winning- a war."

Wellings recalled the first time she met an ONI officer. Ten years ago when one of them came to meet her father...

**Three miles from UNSC Outpost 6**

"What do you mean you can't find her?!?"

"I'm sorry sir, but she's disappeared! She's no longer in the position she radioed from!"

"Damnit! I want you to find her! NOW!"

"Yes sir!"

Sergeant Paccone clicked off the radio and growled. He suspected Wellings and her friend Carter were trouble the moment he saw them. If they weren't in the middle of the warzone, and if they weren't so damn good at what they did, Paccone would've court marshaled them for gross insubordination by now.

"I'm getting WAY to old for this crap."

"Hey, Sam? You sure this is a good idea? I mean, disobeying orders and stuff? The Sarge will be pissed!"

Sam looked at Leo as if he had just taken a loyalty oath to the Covenant.

"You are definitely not the Leo I met ten years ago."

"Well, boot camp and basic training can do that to you."

"Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night."

"I'm serious Sam, don't you-"

"Sh!"

Sam signaled Leo to be quiet. She quickly went prone and started to crawl forward.

"Leo, get the Sight out. Face it twenty degrees to the right and use the thermal imaging."

Leo quickly followed the order.

"Holy crap. I'm getting heat readings. Lots of them."

"How many?"

"Ummm... about... ten of them."

"And...?"

"Lets see... about seven small blobs, two slightly larger blobs, and a pretty big blob."

"Hmmm... I can take them."

"Sam... are you fucking serious?!"

Sam merely gave him one of her playful smirks again.

"My turf, my rules. I'll be fine."

"Say that when they drag you back in a bodybag."

"You're no fun anymore."

With that, Sam got up, checked her gilly suit, and disappeared into the forest. Leo merely watched and muttered.

"Ten years and you still haven't changed..."

**Aeolan Wilderness**

Now with a larger and more complex body, the entity that had possessed the Flood drone now had a chance to spread, and to expand its consciousness. Slowly but surely, memories of millennia past began to seep in, and it slowly began to learn about its surroundings. But right now, it was only acting on instinct.

_Learn, Evolve, Eradicate_

To get what it wanted, the entity needed to achieve evolutionary perfection. Only then could achieve its task. Whatever it was. The entity took a moment to inspect its new body. It was very strong, very fast, and very smart, but hardly near any sort of perfection. The entity started to flex its new muscles.

_I can make this body better..._

Suddenly, flashes and memories surged into the entity's mind. It remembered. Its origins, its past, millennia ago. It was once born a normal Flood form, destined to find a host, and spread the Flood across the galaxy, but something happened. In the game of chance called evolution, something extraordinary happened. It developed intelligence... self-awarness... sentience. With its newfound power, it whipped its brethren in a feeding frenzy, sweeping across the galaxy. Nothing seemed able to stop it, that is, until it met the Forerunner.

The entity shuddered. The Forerunner had torn through its armies and brethren with relative ease, and nearly put his kind into extinction. But they were not so kind. They captured him and his remaining brethren, locked them away in countless laboratories, performing all sorts of studies and experiments. After they were satisfied, they tossed it away like garbage, and it was forced to endure thousands of years in suspended animation, painfully aware of every second that dragged by. Every second, every minute, the entity thought of thousands of ways to destroy the Forerunner when it was freed. It was patient. It knew its time would eventually come.

_Name... Name..._

The entity needed a name. Something to have Forerunner fear. It wanted to destroy the order the Forerunner brought to the galaxy, and in the process, thought of the perfect name.

_Chaos... Chaos shall destroy all that the accursed Forerunner had achieved..._

All Chaos needed now was food. Food to sustain itself, and to help it modify this body enough to suit its needs. It used its consciousness and reached out. It found countless lifeforms and potential meals, but then, as it combed over a certain area, became intrigued. Some of the lifeforms read very strangely. They were Flood... yet they were not. They responded positively to his queries, and seemed to acknowledge it as their leader. Chaos smiled. Minions were always necessary to carry out wishes. Chaos stood up in his stolen body, and like a newborn first learning how to walk, the Flood stumbled off in the direction of strange beings.


	7. Flashback

Chapter 7: Flashback 

**Earth: Sol System  
****Onboard _Thunderbolt_: Preparing for departure to Aeola**

Ten Years Ago 

"Leeds."

"Yes, Captain Wellings?"

"Has our contact arrived yet?"

"His shuttle is already en route and should be here in several minutes."

"Good. Once they're onboard. Get us out of Earths gravity well and plot a Slipspace course to Aeola. Also, raise battlestations to alert level 2."  
"Sir? I thought we were just going to install a new governor on the planet, not invade it."

Captain Edward Wellings just took one look at the young officer.

"Leeds, currently, there is no official UNSC authority in Aeola, which means, none of its inhabitants are under UNSC law. Now, we've got rebels there who aren't too happy about the UNSC intruding on their business, pirates who enjoy using a planet with no law as a hideout, corporate factions who illegally exploit the planets resources, and a whole host of other groups who have their own agendas."

_Our greatest enemies are coming from the most unexpected places._

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't realize."

"Not that you should. Now, lets get to the hangar bay."

The hangar bay of the _Thunderbolt_ was what set the destroyer apart from most other UNSC ships. It was considerably larger than a standard hangar bay, and could hold two squadrons of Longswords and four Pelican dropships. Of course, the obvious tradeoff was ship space, and several missile pods had to be sacrificed, but having the long range striking power of the Longswords was a good trade. Most of the time, the hangar was busy with pilots and mechanics dashing around all over the place, checking up on their aircraft and the like, and the place always constantly reeked of oil, lubricants, fuel, and other smells you would commonly find in a hangar.

This time was different, though. The entire hangar was empty, save for the spacecraft safely locked up. Also, the only smell that could be detected was the faint trace of disinfectant cleaner. After all, for the next several weeks, this ship was going to be home, and Wellings wanted the ride to be as comfortable as possible. And because _Thunderbolt_ and its crew were to become part of Aeola's permanent garrison, the governor wouldn't be the only person bringing his family along.

"Leeds, where is the Governor right now?"

"In his quarters, sir."

"Good, I don't want him to intrude. And the children?"

"Right here, sir!"

Captain Wellings turned to face the new voice. He saw one of his officers, Lieutenant Richards, and beside him, a massive, 7-foot tall man in a Navy Special Warfare uniform dragging two 8 year old children by the collar.

Captain Wellings raised an eyebrow.

"Something you should be telling me?"

Richards quickly saluted.

"Sir, we caught them gambling with the Longsword pilots.... Again."

"And how did they do?"

"They cleaned them out I'm afraid. The pilots showed a remarkable lack of skill in poker."

Suddenly, the other man, saluted and spoke.

"Sir! We also caught them trying to break into the ships fiscal office. Sir!"

Wellings smiled.

"So, Samantha, thought you needed some more spare change?"

"We were only going to borrow some money!"

"I didn't ask you, Leonardo."

"Sorry."

"You're not going to punish us, are you, Dad?"

Wellings smiled again.

"Not this time. But if I catch you again, I'll probably have to throw you two in the brig."

Leonardo's eyes widened with excitement.

"Cool!"

Wellings shook his head.

"Alright. Richards, take them back to their quarters. I want them out of the hangar before they decide to "borrow" a Longsword."

"Yes, Captain."

Captain Wellings smiled as he watched the officer leading the children away. Ever since those two kids met, they had been nothing but terrors. For the few short days they've spent here, a wave of pranks had hit the ship. Keycards and authorization codes would be switched around, things leaping out of lockers, and 'somebody' had even managed to sneak several pounds of pure salt into one of the meals. Wellings had never seen the beverage line fill up so fast. The two little pranksters were hardly UNSC Armed Forces material, but they were only eight. He would just wait and see.

As for his older daughter, Karla, at 13, she was already showing signs of being a magnificent officer, or maybe a Marine. Her excellence in academics and her aptitude for small-unit tactics and weaponry at such a young age surprised him, but it comforted him to know that the family tradition in the armed forces was in good hands. Wellings didn't even bother asking where Karla was. Karla was more quiet and reserved than Samantha, and often spent her time in the rec room, beating the other officers at wargame simulations.

Wellings sighed, and then turned to the NavSpecWar soldier.

"And your name-"

The man's, if you could call him that, reply came like lightning.

"117, sir!"

Wellings grimaced.

_Whoever the hell made these people weren't even human enough to give them names!_

"You had better go back and check on the Governor. I have a feeling that we'll be running into complications."

Wellings could have sworn that the Spartan was about to smile, but the emotionless mask the soldier put on hid it completely.

"Yes sir."

"Sir, permission to speak?"

"Go ahead."

"Are you sure it's safe to have kids around on the ship?"  
"Leeds, even if those kids manage to cause any sort of damage, I'm sure that it will only be minimal."

"No, sir, I mean this is a UNSC warship-"

"And there is hardly any safer place in this galaxy. Everybody knew and understood the risks the moment they stepped on this ship, and as I recall, the Governor and I aren't the only ones who brought their families aboard. How's that girl of yours? Around Samantha's and Leonardo's age, right?"

Leeds gulped.

"That's right. Kumi's about eight."

Wellings nodded, but he was looking toward the hangar doors.

"Sir?"

Suddenly, the Captain's personal comm unit lit up.

"Sir, we've got a ONI Prowler IDed as the _Meadow_ asking for docking clearance."

"That's right. Let it in."

Captain Wellings could hear the air in the hangar airlock being vented. The sound of it reminded Wellings of the tornadoes he had seen during his time on the Sara colony, where such weather conditions were common. Finally, the sound was replaced by the whine of countless gears and servomotors as they pulled the first set of airlock doors open. Once the first set of airlock doors closed again, the second set opened up, revealed the small, sleek, and stealthy Prowler, which reminded Wellings of the SR-71 Blackbird, a 20th century stealth and reconnaissance aircraft. It was painted black, in a shade that would have let the prowler disappear into the shadows, if it weren't for the seal of the Office of Naval Intelligence gracing both sides of the craft.

_Somehow fitting._

Wellings glared at the somewhat smug looking man walking down the Prowler's landing ramp.

"Colonel Ackerson. Even a man of my stature has to wonder what ONI could possibly do with this mission."

"Now, Captain, people of your stature should know that ONI is connected with _every_ UNSC mission, official or not."

Wellings narrowed his eyes.

"And just what is the ONI connection to this?"  
"I'm not at liberty to tell you that, but I DO have something for you. In private, if you please."

Wellings turned and nodded at Leeds, who quickly understood and walked out of the hangar.

Unknown to both men, however, was that there was a small figure hidden away in one of the nearby Pelicans.

Karla was busy playing around and tweaking the Pelican's controls. She already had a rough idea on how to fly it, but never had much a chance to practice because there was almost always somebody in the hangar at any given time. She had never expected to see her father in the hangar at all, though.

_Great, if he sees me, Dad is going to KILL me!_

She quickly ducked down behind the Pelican's control console, but couldn't help but peek over it to see what her father was up to.

Still eyeing the ONI man carefully, Wellings continued.

"Go on. What do have that's so important?"

"My...superiors...are not exactly comfortable with the objectives of your mission, and they feel a need to intervene."

"Really?"

"ONI believes that Governor Carter is a security risk, and are taking steps to take care of it."

Wellings narrowed his eyes.

"What sort of steps?"

"Lets just say that ONI will be coming in several hours to detain Governor on charges of espionage. Now, we won't actually _convict_ him of those charges, as we don't have any proof of them, but it will keep him from reaching his post on Aeola."

"And you expect me to just stand by and watch?"

"No, actually, I expect you to be the one to arrest him."

Wellings slowly turned his back to Ackerson.

"Really? Let me think about it..."

Like his ships namesake, it didn't take much time for Wellings to make up his mind, and even less for his fist to connect with Ackerson's stomach. Ackerson's eyes bulged in surprise and pain like balloons, and with a slight wheeze, collapsed to the deck. Wellings quickly picked him up, gave another punch just for good measure, dragged the Colonel across the deck and threw Ackerson at the foot of the Prowler's boarding ramp.

"Go back to your 'superiors' and tell them that it would be wise for them to call off this little mission, and if it still goes on, don't expect me to go down without a fight. Me and my crew won't be doing you or ONI's dirty work for them."

Ackerson coughed up some blood and slowly stood up.

"Captain, I think you misunderstand-"

"No, you're misunderstanding ME! Whenever I punch someone in the stomach, that means I don't like them, and when I toss them on the deck of my hangar, I want them to get their rotten carcass off my ship!"

"Captain-"

"Shut it, Ackerson! Don't think I'm the dumb Western cowboy type! I'm painfully aware of you and ONI's little black research and development projects Aeola! And with UNSC law coming to Aeola, I suggest you go find another planet to conduct your little god-forsaken science projects!"

Ackerson was now fully standing, with burning hate and a cold-calculating look in his eyes at the same time.

"Then I suppose there's no point in trying to convince you then."

Ackerson slowly turned and boarded the Prowler, but before he got in, he spoke up.

"Oh, and one more thing Captain, I would watch your back if I were you. ONI doesn't exactly like dumb Western cowboys knowing too much about their work. And I hope that beating was your worst, because I swear to God, when we meet again, I will do _my_ worst!"

Wellings merely glared at the man.

"Then I'll be looking forward to that day, Colonel."

Wellings stood and stared at the Prowler, even long after it left the hangar and jumped into Slipspace. As he stood there, he could hear footsteps behind him.

"Captain!"

Wellings turned around to face the officer.

"Leeds. What are you doing here?"

"Sir! I saw everything on the surveillance cameras!"

Wellings nodded. It was a good thing that the cameras didn't record sound.

"Leeds, when you get back to Security, inform them that due to a system glitch, all footage in the last ten minutes in the hangar was deleted."

"Are you sure it's wise to cover this up?"  
"If I know that glory-hound Ackerson, his pride is going to make him do that too. To everybody else, those last ten minutes never happened."

Leeds nodded, but before he left, he had something nagging in his mind.

"Sir? What about Ackerson? I've heard a lot of rumors about him. Make enemies with him, and he'll go after you, your friends, and even your friend's friends. Hell, I don't even think the kids who go the same school as your will be safe."

Wellings chuckled.

"Worried about your little Kumi? Don't worry. Ackerson may bark real loud, but when his prey fights back, he doesn't have a whole lot of bark."

"I hope you're right, sir."

Wellings sighed.

"Me too, Leeds. Now, lets get back to the bridge. We're due to go into Slipspace in fifteen minutes."

Before he exited the hangar, Captain Wellings stopped at the door and began to speak.

"Oh, and Karla, you can come out of that Pelican now."

Karla was surprised.

_How did he know-?_

"Come on, Karla! Better come out before I decide to vent the entire hangar!" 

Karla sighed and stepped out of the Pelican.

"Am I in trouble?"

Her father merely smiled.

"Nothing a couple hours in the brig can't cure."


	8. Sniper Games

Chapter 8: Sniper Games

**Aeolan Wilderness**

Zizit was now terrified for his life. Right now, he was stuck in the middle of nowhere on this god forsaken planet, with dirty humans crawling all over it, and absolutely no support from the Covenant Armada. Not a good place to be. What made it worse though was that his patrol had stumbled upon several patrols on their route, or at least, what was left of them.

Zizit shuddered. Those patrols were filled with Covenant troops armed to the teeth and prepared for anything. Well, almost anything, considering how they were torn apart without so much as getting a shot off. Their patrol leader, an Elite named Malazee merely wrote off their deaths as "death by human", though Zizit knew whatever killed those soldiers was anything _but_ human.

Unlike most other grunts, Zizit was a veteran of at least four battles, which was rare since most grunts barely lasted two. Any that would survive the first assault would immediately be thrown into the second wave, where they would inevitably meet their demise.

With his battlefield experience, Zizit had seen human weapons in the field, and knew what they would do to a hapless grunt. The Biter was the most commonly seen, made the most noise, and made the messiest wounds. The Boomer fired huge explosive shells, and could take out entire squads of grunts if they were packed closely enough. But what scared Zizit most of all was the Cracker. There were many instances where he had seen fellow Covenant get gunned down by it. Usually, there would be no proof of any shooter around, except for the fact that one of them was lying on the ground with about half of his head still connected to his neck. And then slowly, they would be picked off one by one. It was a very scary weapon to go up against, since there was no effective way to counter it. The standard response was just to spray the area where you _thought_ the Cracker was with plasma fire and hope you hit, though that usually just made you a more obvious target.

Zizit compared his past experiences with the bodies they had seen just now, and knew that human weapons didn't kill them. They would've been riddled with bullets from the Biters, blown into charred pieces by the Boomer, or headless from the Cracker. These patrols were literally torn to pieces. Arms and legs were ripped out of their sockets, bodies totally pulverized, necks broken so severely, it was as if someone tried to twist their heads off. Also, there was blood and gore spattered all over the place, and closer examinations of the bodies would reveal that most of their vital organs and flesh was missing.

Clearly, Zizit and his patrol were on the edge, and most didn't even bother to try and hide it. Malazee included.

"Zizit."

Zizit almost shrieked in surprise and fright, but managed to reduce it to a nervous twitch.

"What do you want, Kakat?"

"Can you cover me? I really have to go. Nature calls."

"Sure, but hurry up. Malazee looks like he's ready to go again soon."

"Yeah yeah."

Zizit watched Kakat waddle off the edge of the clearing towards a tree. He then turned to look at Malazee. Clearly, they were lost again, and Malazee was having trouble hiding it. The Elite sifted through map after map trying to find their bearings. Well, they would be here for a while. Zizit settled down to rest, but a sharp and painfully familiar _crack_ filled his ears.

Everybody else also heard the sounds and quickly stood up. Zizit counted everybody up. Nine of them, including him, were all standing. All that left was Kakat...

Zizit turned and saw Kakat, still standing at his tree. Zizit dashed over towards him.

"Kakat! Get down! There's a Cracker here! Get down!"

But when he got closer, Zizit realized it was a mistake.

Kakat slumped over on the tree and slid down to the ground. As he did so, his body twisted around, revealing the clean, penny sized hole right between his eyes. Zizit screamed and ran for cover.

"One down." Sam whispered to herself. Obviously, the Covvies hadn't discovered her position yet, so she took the liberty of taking down a couple of more Covvies.

_Crack._ A Grunt fell to the ground without a neck.

_Crack._ A Jackal took a round in the face and toppled to the ground, knocking over his other Jackal companion.

Now the Grunts and the Elite started to fire in her general direction. Even though it was unlikely that they would hit her, she didn't want to take any chances. She quickly stood up and dashed over to one of her backup spots, under a rotting log.

_Crack. _Another Grunt spun around and hit the ground.

_Crack. _A second Grunt had the honor of seeing his shoulder explode in a cloud of his own blood. It fell to the ground screaming until the Elite finally shot it in the face.

_Crack. _The last Jackal, which thought its shield would provide adequate protection, had its hopes shattered when it toppled over and saw his foot disconnected with his ankle. A second _Crack _finished it off before it even had a chance to scream.

Sam got up and dashed to her third backup spot. A slight rise covered in low brush. She ejected the spent clip in her sniper rifle and slammed in a fresh one.

_Crack. _Two Grunts, standing back to back, realized their mistake as soon as they both noticed that there was a hole where their heart should be.

Sam finally got to the final Covvie. An Elite that was still firing into the forest. It probably would have worked if he was facing the right direction. She slowly put the crosshairs of her scope just above its head...

_Crack._

Zizit had managed to crawl away from the killing field. If there was one thing he had learned during his last four battles, it was that cowards were survivors. Once Zizit thought he had crawled a safe distance away, he got up and started to run.

"I cannot BELIEVE you have got the GUTS to disobey a DIRECT order, Private! I ought to have you and your friend court marshaled and shot for gross insubordination!"

Sam and Leo both stood there. Leo was totally petrified, while Sam just trying to hide a laugh. Not only at Leo's apparent frightened state, but the fact that she could tell the Sarge was not totally serious.

"But you're DAMN lucky you've chalked up nine Covvie kills! Not many green replacements can do that!"

Before any of the Marines had a chance to speak, the Sarge spoke up again.

"Okay, ladies! Lets move out! We've got a three mile march ahead of us!"

**Unknown Alien Structure**

"Well, El-Tee, looks like you've just set up a new outpost here!"

"Uh huh. What makes you think that, Williams?"

"Well, there's the fact that they're starting to build permanent structures, rather than just the flimsy little tents they seem to like. Maybe I should suggest they name this outpost after you."

"Would you like my boot up your ass?"

"Uhh, no ma'am."  
"Damn right. Now gear up and get the other squads moving. We're going out on a patrol."  
"What, again?"

"Yeah. Command wants to make sure the surrounding area is secure. Plus they're shorthanded right now."  
"Are you fucking kidding me? They've got the entire _regiment_ down here!"

"And most of it is in THAT thing." Wellings pointed to the alien structure. "Clearing it out in case the Covvies left any surprises behind! Now get moving before my boot REALLY DOES go up your ass!"

The Marine shuddered at the thought.

"Yes ma'am!"


	9. Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 9: Calm Before the Storm

**UNSC Outpost 6**

"All clear. Nothing out there, sir."

Sam clicked off the radio. The outpost was right where it should be, but the problem was that there was absolutely nothing out there, save for several dozen bodies strewn across the pavement and some smoke rising from smoldering wreckage.

The outpost itself wasn't much to look at, either. It was just a squat, unremarkable concrete bunker sitting atop a stretch of pavement about the size of two football fields. There were a lot of bulletholes and plasma scoring along the walls of the bunker, but the building itself looked fairly intact, which Sam took as a good sign.

_A successful Covvie attack normally doesn't leave much behind._

"Not quite as big as they said it was, huh?"

Sam turned to Leo, who was lying right next to her and snorted.

"That's because most of it's _underground._ Makes for a less obvious target."

"I knew that."  
"Sure you did."

Thankfully, before any real argument could break out, the radio crackled to life.

"Wellings! We're moving in to see if there's any survivors! Cover us and keep an eye out for any Covvies!"  
"Roger that, sir!"

It was about 50 yards between the treeline and the bunker door. Until the Marines could reach it, that open stretch of pavement could become a shooting range if the Covenant decided to attack. Sam wouldn't let that happen on her watch.

"Leo, keep that sight on their flank. If there's anything moving out there, I want to know about."

"Sure thing."

Sam looked on as ten Marines made a mad dash across the pavement, weaving their way over or between the bodies strewn about, all the while keeping a sharp eye out with weapons raised. Things were just far too quiet for their liking. After what seemed like hours, the last Marine reached the steel blast doors protecting the bunker entrance, and the radio buzzed to life again.

"Okay Wellings, your turn. Make a dash across. We'll cover you."

Sam tried to hide a look of disgust on her face, but Leo quickly caught it.

"Scared?"  
"Not a chance."

But Sam DID feel a little uneasy. As a sniper, running around in the open was just inviting yourself to get shot, and Sam felt very uncomfortable doing that. Second the gilly suit she was wearing was fairly bulky and not made for sprinting. The heavy garment would impede her movement enough that she wouldn't be able to cover the distance quite as fast.

"Come on lets get this over with."

She and Leo scanned the area for any possible threats. Once they thought it was clear, they picked up their gear and ran across the pavement.

Sam was always on edge whenever she had to something like this. There was always the uncertainty, the what ifs. It wouldn't take much for a plasma bolt to come flying in from out of nowhere and sending her flying across the pavement...

Fortunately, she and Leo managed to reach the door without much difficulty. Paccone checked around to make sure every Marine was there. He nodded to another Marine, who quickly punched in the door code on a keypad. Motors whined and gears clanked as the door slowly pulled itself open. The squad of Marines were rewarded for their efforts with nearly two dozen assault rifles pointed right at them.

Paccone quickly raised his hands and yelled.

"Hey! We're friendlies!"

At once, the other Marines realized their mistake and lowered their weapons. One of them stepped up and shook Paccone's hand.

"My God, you're a sight for sore eyes! We thought rescue would never come!"

Paccone let go of the Marine's hand and scanned his IFF frequency. His HUD immediately brought up the Marine's name, rank, unit, and a brief CSV.  
"Captain Lupton, you mind taking us to whoever's in charge?"

The captain stared nervously around the other Marines.

"Er, I'm sorry to say this, but as of twelve hours ago, I became the de facto commander of this facility."

"Just what the hell happened here?"

"The Covvies attacked us from out of nowhere. Most of our garrison was caught out in the open and they were massacred. Those of us that were left fell back into the bunker and held out over there. We repelled the Covenant forces and successfully held the bunker. We've been fighting off numerous raids ever since. The last one was about two hours ago."  
"I see. Briefing said that there were a hundred fifty Marines in the garrison. How many do you have left?"  
"About thirty Marines. Twelve of them are wounded, six so bad that we had to keep them in the infirmary. We've got a fair amount of weapons and armor, but we're running low on ammo and our radio is busted. We thought that nobody was going to come."

"Well, I've got good news. Command is sending over Pelicans and we're getting extracted out of this hellhole!"

The rest of the Marines cheered at the news. Some threw their helmets into the air and others fired their rifles wildly into the ceiling.

"But we've also got another objective. Command wants us to copy all of the outpost's computer files and then destroy any trace of the original documents so the Covvies don't get their hands on them."

"Sure thing. The main computer is on sub-level four. I'll show you where it is."  
"Good."

Paccone then turned around and started barking orders.

"Okay! Marines! I want you to spread out and take up defensive positions! We've only got a few hours till we get out of here, and I don't want any Covvies spoiling that chance! Wellings! Carter! I want both of you on the roof of the bunker and keep watch! You're also on radio duty!"  
"Yes sir!"

**A mile from the Alien Structure**

Karla Wellings kept a close eye out for any suspicious movement. Patrol duty was always a nerve-wracking experience, because you never knew where the enemy was or where they would strike. The only thing that you could hope for was that the enemy would have the same problems. Her Warthog slowly rattled across the worn dirt road. So far, things were extremely quiet, and Wellings hated it just as much as actual battle. In the calm before the storm, it was always very easy to slack off and let your guard down, and that was always the moment when the enemy decided to strike.

All of a sudden, Wellings brought her Warthog to a halt, forcing the rest of them behind her to stop as well. The lieutenant brought a hand to her ear and listened carefully. Beneath the rustling leaves and roaring engines, she could make out the distinct hum of Covenant plasma drives.

"We've got Covvies out there. Williams, Ryan, form up and follow me."

The three Warthogs quickly gunned their engines and barged their way though the brush, only to reach a small cliff. Wellings looked down and saw a gigantic Covenant force using an old logging trail and heading west.

"Williams, what's down there?"

The Marine quickly ran through a map of the region.

"Uhh, all that's down that road is UNSC Outpost 6. Didn't we pass that place during one of our patrols?"

"Damnit. Contact the rest of the platoon, tell them that we have to cut them off before they can get any farther. Ryan, radio Command and tell them what's going on."

"Uhh, ma'am, Command says there's no outpost up there!"

Wellings turned and stared at Ryan incredulously.

"WHAT?!"  
"That's what they said, ma'am! Said that ONI decommissioned that site nearly a decade ago. There isn't supposed to be _anybody_ at that outpost anymore!"

"That's impossible. We were there a week ago. They had a good hundred fifty Marines guarding that place!"

"But ma'am, Command says to disregard the outpost and return to the-"

"Screw Command and screw ONI! There are people down there and if they don't get any help, they'll be annihilated! UNSC or not they're still human! We go down there and we help them out!"  
"Yes ma'am!"

**Unknown**

Chaos laughed. He had never imagined he would find such powerful creatures at his command. They were more powerful than he had imagined, and were far more formidable than the normal Flood drones. Plus, they were more infectious than even the drones could ever hope to be, spreading their influence upon all those they face.

_Soon, this pathetic planet will be the first to fall, and then vengeance shall be mine!_


	10. So Yeah, Screw You

Author's Notes: Well people, its that time again! Right now, updates will be fairly inconsistent, since I'm managing about 3 fics at the same time and more are in the works for my head, so... yeah. I'm crazy. Get over it.

To UltimateKane99: About that "Flood only being on Halo" thing, I don't really remember anything saying that Halo was the ONLY place the Flood were held on. Besides, wouldn't be as great a story if I can't include the lovable little flesh balloons!

Chapter 10: So Yeah, Screw You.

**Logging Trail**

"Hey... El-Tee? You sure this is a good idea?"

"Since when was being able to kill off hordes of Covvies _not_ a good idea?"

"I was talking more about the 'disobeying a direct order' thing."

"Pfft. What are they going to do? Cycle me to a desk job? I wish."

"You know, a lot of us guys don't exactly share your respect for command-"

"Because we're here to fight and to kill. So get your damn Hog into position before I decide to use it for target practice."

"Yes ma'am!"

Karla watched as the young Hog driver throttled off to the join the rest of his squad and shook her head.

"Kids these days..."

She quickly clicked her radio on.

"All squads report."  
  
"Squad One ready and waiting."

"Squad Two is here."

"Squad Three is hot."

"Squad Four is itching for some action!"

Williams, who's Warthog was parked next to Karla's spoke up.  
  
"Hey, El-Tee, how many were down there again?"

"Oh, about three hundred, with vehicular support. Why?"

"Just checking. Are you serious about attacking the entire force?"  
  
"At once? Hell no. This is just to take off a chunk of that force. Give those guys over at the outpost that's not supposed to exist a decent chance."

"Ah... okay. Sorry I ever doubted you , ma'am!"

Karla nodded and checked her chronometer.

"Good. Attack starts in..."

She quickly glanced at her chrono again."

"Minus Thirty. I hope you guys still remember how to do the run-n-gun!"

There were a chorus of shouts and cheers over the radio, but Karla still kept a close eye on the slowly ticking clock.

Twenty seven...

Twenty six...

Twenty five...

**UNSC Outpost 6**

Sam was standing on the roof of the bunker, keeping her scope trained on the treeline fifty yards away. Leo was busy sitting farther back managing the radio.

"Any word on the Pelicans yet, Leo?"

"Just a second... still trying to work this damn thing..."

Sam heard some grunting and what sounded like a standard issue Marine boot contacting metal. Suddenly, the air was filled with the crackle of radio static.

"The radio is good to go."  
Sam shook her head.

"Thanks the good old Marine way. If it doesn't work, break it some more."

Before Leo had a chance to retort, however, another voice butted into the conversation.

"Th-s is U--- Peli—n Seattle Sev-n."

"Ugh, that's some pretty nasty interference. See if you can clean that up a little."

Leo bent down and quickly played with a few more knobs and buttons. As quickly as that, the random jumble of words and static was instantly filtered into crystal clear clarity.

"This is UNSC Pelican Seattle Seven to Outpost Six! Coming nice and easy on heading five-twenty. Please confirm, over."

Leo keyed his helmet radio.

"Confirmed. This is UNSC Outpost Six. Requesting pickup. Over."

There was a blast of static and a muffled curse from the pilot.

"Negative! I repeat, negative! LZ is _hot_ and there are bogies all over! I'm reading incoming Banshees and ground forces! Attempting evasive man-"

The radio was then filled with an ear piercing scream. Sam winced and tried to cover hear eyes.

"Oh God, Leo, turn that thing off!"

As if in response, the screaming suddenly stopped. Sam put her hands down.

"Thank you."

"Um, Sam? I didn't do anything. The signal's still broadcasting."

**Inside**

When Paccone clicked on his radio and listened for several seconds, every Marine around him shied away after his reaction. His eyes seemed to bulge out of his head like balloons, and his face started to turn a crimson red.

"The Pelicans did **_WHAT_**?!?!?!"

"That's what happened! The first one reported a heavy Covvie force closing in and we lost contact with it. The other Pelicans bugged out shortly after that."

Paccone gave a nice, rich curse he had learned in the Marine boot camps on Reach, and a very nasty one at that. The sound resonated through the entire bunker, and every Marine turned their head or stopped what they were doing, though most weren't completely sure why.

**Outside**

Sam shifted uncomfortably, as if something was disturbing her.

"Hey Leo, you hear something?"

"No, why?"

"Just wondering."

**Inside**

"Carter! Any word on when the Pelicans will be back?"

"Command says it'll take another two hours for them to round up the Pelicans that went AWOL. Not even beginning to say how long it'll take them to set up another extraction."

"And how big is this Covvie force?"  
"Er, from what that pilot said before she got shot down... about three hundred assorted troops, six Ghosts, two Wraiths, and two Banshees."

"Private, with that kind of force, in two hours, there won't even _be _an outpost to go to! Do we even have any reinforcements?"  
"Um, even if there are any out this far, they're all under strict radio silence. All I keep getting is this damn automated UNSC code, which roughly translates into 'We can't answer your call right now because we're doing something faaaar more important, so yeah, screw you.'"

"Can the sarcasm, Private! We don't have time for your candy-ass talk! Keep an eye out for those Covvies and stay on that radio!"

"Yes si-"

Paccone then clicked off his radio and immediately started barking orders. Even though Captain Lupton outranked Paccone, the man was obviously more accustomed to making executive orders, not the quick, snap-decisions that a frontline Marine unit required.

"Lupton, I want you to round up every Marine, weapon, and piece of ammunition you can find!"

He quickly turned to the other Marines.

"You men! Set up barricades and form a perimeter around the bunker and get snipers on the roof! We've only got an hour at most, so get to it!"

All three dozen marines acknowledged his orders and started preparing for battle.

**Logging Trail**

The first shot came out quickly and with no mercy. A Jackhammer rocket suddenly seemed to materialize in the mist and bury itself into the side of a Wraith tank. 102mm missile slammed into the tank's side and exploded. The Wraith, damaged but not dead, listed to the side and attempted to fire before three more missiles reduced it to flying shrapnel.

Seconds later, the exact same thing happened to the Wraith taking up the rear of the formation. The explosion startled the Covenant troops, but that was nothing in comparison to the Warthogs. Like giant, vicious green beasts, the vehicles burst from the forest and started tearing into the Covenant.

Karla was in the midst of the battle, driving her Warthog like a maniac. She continually had her Warthog do sweeping turns, which threw off the Covvies' aim and slammed into any unfortunate troops who happened to be standing too close to the vehicle. Riley, her gunner, kept a steady stream of 30mm rounds going to pin down any troops that started getting bright ideas. Karla felt another _thud_ when an unfortunate Elite became her next speedbump. What was even more amusing than that was the fact that because the Warthogs were literally in the middle of the Covvie formation, the troops were repeatedly shooting each other. She saw a fuel rod streak over and miss one of Squad Two's Warthogs by inches. Three grunts and a jackal paid for that Hunter's sloppy aim with their lives, and were instantly incinerated.

Suddenly, Ryan's Warthog shot past. Ryan's Hog was a special piece of work. Unlike the standard issue Warthog Light Reconnaissance Vehicle, his Hog was not armed with the standard issue LAAG or Jackhammer weapons systems. Instead, Ryan managed to find an old .50 cal anti-tank rifle from God-knows-where, tricked it out to the point where the rifle could push the heavy .50 caliber round past the sound barrier, and jury rigged it to the back of his Warthog using a modified mount from an old LAAG. The result was what Ryan proudly boasted as "an S2AM on crack."

As the Hunter began to swivel around to get a bead on Ryan's Hog, the gunner manning the heavy rifle swung around and managed to fire first. The Hunter, realizing what was going to happen, attempted to raise his shield. The Hunter was successful, or at least, partially successful in blocking the round. What he didn't take into account, though was the fact that bullets ricochet, which was quite common in conventional weaponry, but virtually nonexistent with plasma weapons and fuel rod cannons. The Hunter managed raise his shield just enough to keep it from blasting through his neck, but the round glanced off the top edge of his shield and instead speared itself straight through his chin and up his skull before his head blew open like an overripe melon. But even in death, a Hunter was still a lethal force to be reckoned with. The corpse, still standing, twitched once before it fell over and crushed a squad of hapless Grunts.

Karla looked around again noticed that now the enemy fire was getting more focused and organized. Riley shrieked as a plasma bolt struck her on the upper shoulder and fell over. Sanders, who was sitting in the passenger seat, quickly climbed over the seat with a first aid kit to check her wound. Several more plasma bolts sizzled through the air, and would have struck Riley had she not fallen over. Karla winced, the Covenant were finally starting to get it together and organize a counterattack. She grabbed her radio and yelled.  
"This is Leader to all squads, break off! Break off and fall back to rally point Alpha!"

There were a number of quick acknowledgements, and she saw the other Warthogs quickly stop what they were doing, whip around, and disappear into the mist. A lot of the Navy boys, who tended to see the Marines doing this to clear the area for airstrikes, called this tactic "Fleeing into the Fog".

Before breaking off and fleeing into the fog herself, Karla took one last look at the Covvie formation. It was very apparent that even after four years of fighting, the Covenant still haven't gotten used to the "hit and run" attack. Out of the nearly three hundred original troops, here couldn't be more than about a hundred now. Every single one of their vehicles, save two Banshees, were piles of flaming wreckage. There were also several other piles of flaming debris, and Karla sincerely hoped that the flames weren't being fueled by Warthogs. Seeing the Covenant ready to fire again, she turned and hit the accelerator.


	11. Baptism of Fire

Chapter 11: Baptism of Fire

**Aeolan Forest**

By the time Karla reached rally point Alpha, she could already notice that the rest of the platoon had gathered. She did a quick count of her troops and noticed two Warthogs were missing. She instantly recognized which ones were.

"What happened to Jacobs and Frances?"

Their squadmates in Squad Three remained quiet. With Jacobs and Frances' Warthogs gone, their squad strength had been quite literally cut in half. Also, both drivers were well known among Squad Three. Their squad leader, Sergeant Ranney, finally responded.

"Jacobs' Warthog took a fuel rod hit head on. There wasn't much left to recover after that. Frances' Warthog caught a plasma grenade in the tires and blew off the entire front half. Jones and Forrest got thrown clear and we managed to pick them up. Frances wasn't too lucky."

Karla nodded and gauged the status of the rest of her platoon. So far, they had lost two Warthogs and four Marines killed. There were also countless injuries among them from stray plasma fire and combat exhaustion was threatening to overcome most of the Marines. Even now, she could see signs, especially among the greener Marines, of cracking.

"Okay, pack up and lets get moving. We're going back to HQ."

"We're not going to help Outpost 6?"

"Ryan. Our Warthogs have several new dents and holes in them, we are all low on ammo, and not to mention bone-tired Add in the possibility of having to fight a numerically superior force that is now aware of our presence here, and we get a very nasty combination. And yes, I hate the fact that we have to leave those guys there on their own now, but going on a suicide attack isn't going to get anything done."

"Sorry I even mentioned it, El-Tee!"

**UNSC Outpost 6**

With only about three dozen Marines against three hundred Covenant troops, Sam thought that the soldiers were taking it pretty well. Most stayed behind the makeshift barricades that had been set up, with a weapon and an eye trained on the treeline, but some others took the time to relax and take a smoke, or play cards or talk with fellow Marines. Sam had now idea how they could something like this right before a battle, but she suspected it was what they usually did to calm their nerves.

Sam looked behind her. Leo was transferred down to ground to help out with the defense, and with her on the roof were five other snipers, each with their own little killzone set up. Though no words were ever exchanged between them, their body language and eye movement suggested a contest between the snipers. An unofficial "whoever kills the most Covvies wins" challenge, and Sam had no mind to lose it.

She heard a faint rumble in the forest, and recognized it as a Warthog engine. Oupost 6 had a total of seven Warthogs kept in the bunker motor pool, but on all of them, the weapons were either inoperable or not there. At least three of the seven were configured into troop transports, which pretty much made them useless in battle. Because of their limited use, Paccone pressed the Warthogs and their drivers into scout duty. If the Covenant were coming, Paccone wanted to know when and where.

Scout Five burst out of the treeline, and the moment he managed to bring his Warthog to a stop, jumped out and ran to Paccone.

"Sir!"

The sergeant turned from his inspection to face the driver.

"It better be good news, Private."

"It is! We've come back from our patrol route, and we made contact with the Covvie force!"  
"And that is good, HOW?"

"I'm not finished yet, sir! Apparently, something tore them up pretty badly earlier All of their equipment was mangled and in pieces, and there's barely a hundred troops now."  
  
"That's the best damn news I've heard all day! What attacked them?"  
  
"Don't know sir, but whoever they were, they left in a hurry. We saw Warthog tracks going all over the place."

"And the Covenant?"  
  
"They'll reach the outpost in about thirty minutes."

"Good job, soldier. Recall the rest of the scouts and get them back to the bunker. We've got some fighting to do."

As if the Covenant were working clocks, they managed to reach Outpost 6 in exactly half an hour, though they gave away their attack well before that. Every Marine on the line could feel and hear the marching of a hundred feet coming closer and closer. There were several loud explosions. That meant the Covenant had already breached their outer perimeter and tripped the Scorpion mines they planted in the forest. The next several minutes were filled with silence, until plasma bolts started to fly out from the treeline indiscriminately. Several Marines were taken by surprise and cut down by sheet of plasma. The rest either ducked for cover or returned fire.

And that was what most the early battle consisted of. Two sides firing randomly at each other, unsure of whether they were actually hitting anything or not. Because the Covenant were still well behind the treeline, the snipers couldn't get a clear shot at any of them, so they lay back and waited for an opportunity. After several more minutes of trading ineffectual fire with each other, the Covenant finally made their move. About three dozen Grunts, and a dozen Jackals emerged from the treeline on the south side. The Grunts were all huddled behind the Jackals, who made a line of shields to protect the grunts from gunfire. They advanced slowly, shrugging off the rounds being fired at them. A grenade or Jackhammer would have scattered their formation, but those grenades were scarce, and there were no more rockets, thanks to many previous battles.

Sam and another sniper saw that the Marines on the south side were in trouble. The other sniper started picking off grunts who weren't fully shielded by shield wall, but Sam knew that wouldn't do any good. She scanned the Jackals for any potential weakness and quickly found one. One Jackal, right in the middle of the line, didn't have is shield raised high enough to protect the top of his head. Sam zeroed and blew its skull clean off.

With a weak link in their shield wall the Grunts and Jackals knew that they were in trouble, and attempted to fall back, unfortunately for them, the Marines quickly exploited the gap in their lines. The Marines rose up and focused their fire in the gap, killing several grunts. The grunts, overcome by fear, broke formation and ran back for the treeline, making them easier targets for the Marines. Without any sort of Grunt backup, the Jackals had nothing to cover their rear or flank, so they raised their shields and tried to fall back as well, though in a more controlled fashion.

Then, out of nowhere, a lone Warthog leapt out and ran down about four of the Jackals. Sam looked up and scanned the Warthog closer, and realized that Paccone and several Marines were taking up positions on the passenger seats of the Warthog, and of all people, _Leo_ was driving it.

"Things just keep getting wierder"

Leo quickly whipped the Warthog around, smashing into another Jackal and brining the Warthog into the Jackal formation's rear.

"Good job, Private!"

Paccone and the other Marines fired into the backs of the bird-like creatures and quickly killed them. More plasma came out of the forest, and struck the Warthog.

"Private! Get us the hell out of here!"  
"On it, sir!"

Leo hit the accelerator and drove out of the plasma storm, but not before two Marines sitting in the back were hit and killed. Paccone shoved both of the bodies out of the back and motioned for two more Marines on the relatively quiet East side to replace them. At that moment, a new offensive was launched on the south side. More Grunts, and this time, Elites, poured out in a frontal assault against the defensive line.

"Private, you think you can get this dancing again?"

"No problem, sir!"

Sam was busy picking off Elites and watching Grunts being cut down. But what bothered her was the lack of any commanding officers. Usually, attacks like these would be led by at least one crimson Elite. Sam actually liked them, since their bright red armor made them very attractive targets. Sam stopped firing on the southern quadrant and directed her attention to the other three. The north side was fairly quiet and still at full strength, to repel a possible attack from the rear. The western side as still strong, though some Marines were transferred to help out the south. The eastern side was the weakest link, since that quadrant had the least amount of Marines defending it. Sam kept an eye on the treeline, and noticed movement. It looked like some sort of distortion or heat wave, except Aeola was not exactly a very hot planet, and heat waves moved _up_, not _forward_.

Sam suddenly realized what was happening. The attack on the south side was just a diversion. It was to draw attention away from the flanks, so a squad of cloaked Elites could sneak in and attack them from the inside.

_They'll be ripped apart!_

From what she could tell, the Elites were already halfway across the pavement and moving slowly. Sam raised her rifle and fired four shots into four different distortions. There was no time to reload, so she dropped her rifle and drew her M6D pistol. Though the pistol didn't have remotely as much punch as a high powered rifle, the fortunate thing about cloaking was that it drew a lot of power, so Elites usually had to choose between protection or stealth, and stealth was not going to help them this time.

Without even using the pistol's scope, Sam fired off several quick shots. She saw several clouds of blood and dust raise as bodies fell on the pavement. The six Marines on that side were confused at what was going on at first, but quickly caught on. The spread of bullets convinced the remaining Elites that maybe using their shields would be a better tradeoff. Suddenly, six Elites popped out of thin air, and Sam knew she only had seconds before the Elites could switch their shields on. She fired her five remaining rounds, and scored five hits. The first Elite had his eyepiece pierced by a bullet and toppled to the ground. The Elite right behind him took three rounds in the chest and also went down. The third Elite was hit in the neck and chest and fell, clutching its throat in agony. The remaining three Elites didn't stand much of a chance against six Marines armed with fully loaded assault rifles.

Suddenly, there was a loud shriek. One of the snipers looked up and screamed.

"Banshees incoming!"

Before Sam had a chance to react, plasma bolts rained down onto the roof of the bunker. Three of the snipers were instantly cut down by the rain of energy. The other two made a dash for the roof hatch. Sam saw a second Banshee cut in from another direction, but before she could warn the other snipers, there was a green flash. The next thing Sam knew, she was about four feet from where she was standing earlier, and what was left of the other two snipers was a patch of glowing red metal. The two Banshees circled around for another run, strafing the roof mercilessly. Led more by instinct rather than reflex, Sam rolled over the edge of the roof and fell about four stories. When she hit the ground, Covenant assaults and rogue Banshees were longer her problem.

There was a bright flash of light. Leo risked a glance, and saw the entire roof of the bunker go up in an explosion of plasma fury.

_Sam_

"Private! Keep your eyes on the road, goddamnit!"

"What?"  
  
Leo whipped around and noticed he was straying from the battle.

"Sir, we have to do something about those Banshees!"

"I know that Private, just try to get close!"

"What-"

Paccone got on the radio and started yelling orders.

"Okay, northern quadrant! Pour fire on those Banshees! Aim high and try to force them down!"

Seconds later, assault rifle rounds flew through the air and whizzed above the Banshee. The pilot, spooked by the mass of concentrated fire, dropped altitude the point where he was hovering just inches above the pavement.

"Private! Full throttle, NOW!"

Leo quickly caught on to what Paccone was planning, jammed the accelerator, and hoped he remembered to put on his seat belt.

Leka Vumanee dropped his altitude to avoid the human fire. He could hear rounds pinging off the sides of his craft, and that made him nervous. Banshee armor was not very sturdy, and Leka did not want to test the armor's limits at this moment. Hoping to throw off their aim, Leka dove to the point where his Banshee was skimming the ground. Before he could pull up, however, Leka caught something on the edge of his vision, and hesitated for a split second.

That second was all the Warthog needed to connect with the Banshee. It's left wing pod was instantly crushed between the jeep and the aircraft like paper, and the resulting momentum sent the Banshee flying into the treeline, where it impacted against a tree and exploded. What surprised Leo the most, however, was the fact that the Warthog was still running.

"You gotta love those engineers at GM! They know how to make a jeep!"

"Sir! We've still got one Banshee left! And I don't think it's going to fall for the same trick!"

"No worries, Private! We've got a different plan! Just get close so we can do it!"

"Do what, sir?"

"Don't all Warthogs still have that tow cable and winch?"

Leo laughed.

The final Banshee was flying around the bunker firing indiscriminately. With no heavy weapons to take it down, the Marines on the ground were at its mercy. The pilot was so arrogant, he flew it just several feet off the ground, though just high enough so a Warthog wouldn't be able to ram it. Just then, a lone Warthog whipped around and headed straight for the Warthog. The Banshee turned to face it, fuel rod cannon charging.

What the Banshee didn't see was the second Warthog coming in from behind.

The second Leo passed under the Banshee, Paccone threw the tow cable up. The magnetic end of the cable immediately latched onto the underside of the Banshee. Like a party balloon, the Banshee was jerked away and being dragged along, its engines no match for the Warthogs brute strength.

"Now get ready, Private! On my command, we're going to slingshot this thing straight into the treeline!"

"Yes sir!"

"NOW!"  
  
Leo quickly hit the brakes on the Warthog and made it do a full 360 degree turn. At the same time, Paccone cut the power to the magnetic end of the tow cable. Like a whip, the remaining momentum in the cable sent the Banshee flying straight through the treeline, and knocked several large pines over before finally exploding. Paccone smiled.

"Leo, you are a _terrible_ driver."

Leo was taken off guard. This was the first time he had heard the sergeant call him by his first name.

"Probably why we were demoted to Marines, sir!"

Paccone laughed.

With the final Banshee gone, the Covenant attack pretty much lost all of its steam. What was left of the original force, about three Grunts and a jackal, was quickly rounded up and taken prisoner. Leo was a little more than proud of the fact that they won, until a very ugly thought struck him.  
  
"Sarge, where's Sam?"

**Three Hours Later**

"Hey, wake up, sleepyhead."

Sam managed to open her eyes a little, but she was unsure if she was really awake or not.

"Hey, come on, stop that Sam, I know you're still alive down there."

Sam tried to close her eyes again, until she felt someone patting her face.

"This is no time to be sleeping on the job, Eagle Eyes."

Sam's eyes snapped open, and was about have her fist connect with the man's smiling face when she suddenly realized it was Leo.

"Ha, I _knew_ that would wake you up."

Sam looked around and noticed she was in what looked like an infirmary.

"What happened?"

Leo casually sat down in a chair, still smiling.

"Well, after the battle, we were digging around for survivors and wounded when we found you lying in a heap along the east side. We also heard a lot interesting stories from the east-siders as well. Said that if it weren't for you, the entire left flank would've gone under."

"Yeah, so give me a medal."  
  
"Actually, they're really considering it. The sarge is even willing to put in a good word for you."

"But the Sarge hates me."

Leo shook his head.

"Not anymore. From what he said a couple hours ago, we're no longer 'newbies' and now 'part of the squad.'"

"Really?"

"He called me, and you, by our first names. If that's not a step forward, then I don't know what the hell it is."

"You're sounding just like the old Leo I know now."

Leo stood up, and gave Sam a mock salute.

"You better get some rest while you can. I'm pretty sure command is going to dump us on the front again the moment we get back."

"Now you sound just like my mother."

Leo raised an eyebrow.  
  
"But I thought you never knew her."

Sam's mood suddenly darkened, and she looked away.

"Don't remind me of that."

Leo, realizing his mistake, left the infirmary, leaving Sam alone with her thoughts.


	12. Sanity is Overrated

Chapter 12: Sanity is Overrated

**En route to Firebase Orion(Alien Structure)**

It was a very quiet night. Karla leaned against the LAAG mounted on her Warthog and sighed. They were rotating positions, and Sanders was taking over the wheel. Riley was sleeping her wound off in the passenger seat. It would still be a while before they would get back to Firebase Orion. Normally, such a trip would only take a few minutes, but night was slowly creeping in, and darkness and a thick blanket of fog did not mix very well. Visibility was nearly zero, so the Warthog column had slowed down to a crawl. Also, it didn't really help that all the headlights were turned off, to reduce the chances of being spotted by the Covenant. Though the night seemed somewhat soothing, the fact that there was absolutely no sound except for the humming of the nearby Warthogs seemed to be putting several of the Marines on edge. They obviously weren't used to fighting in a thick forest. In a forest, all of the sound was usually picked up and blocked by trees, leaves, and all sorts of other things, leaving a very eerily quiet landscape.

"El-tee?"  
Karla looked down at Sanders in the driver's seat.  
"What is it, Sanders?"

"With all due respect ma'am, this place is creeping the hell outta me. Can't we just turn on the lights or something?"

"We can't do that, Sanders. Unless you want to risk announcing our presence like a giant neon billboard and get pegged by Covenant artillery. You ever see what a Wraith plasma bolt can do to a Warthog?"

"I'm not sure if I want to find out."

"Good, because neither do I. Just keep following the track. It should be evening out soon, and after that, it's just smooth sailing from-"

Before she even had a chance to finish her sentence, there was a bright flash of light, and suddenly, searing pain lanced itself through Karla's left shoulder. She bit back a curse and yelled.  
"Covvies! Suppressing fire!"

Immediately, the Warthogs picked up their speed and the gunners started firing in all directions in an attempt to keep any Covenant at bay, and the Covenant responded in kind. The darkness was punctuated by flashes of light, illuminating the surrounding area for brief flashes like lightning strikes.There were men shouting, aliens screaming, guns rattling and plasma rifles buzzing, and yet, neither side had any clear idea where the other was.

Despite her injured arm, Karla tried to swing around her LAAG around and take aim at where she thought were some Covenant, but then a rattling noise filled the air, and the Warthog jerked forward with a sudden burst of speed, throwing her off balance.

Sanders, who was in the driver seat of Karla's Warthog, was frightened out of his mind. First of all, he was leading the entire Warthog column, which meant that if he slowed down, the rest of the Warthogs would be too, and there was also the fact that there were plasma bolts literally flying over his head. Unable to see, Sanders turned on his headlights out of reflex. That was his first big mistake.

Immediately, there was a horrifying rattling sound and the hood started flashing like a strobe light. Some Covvie with a Needler had drawn bead on the Warthog and started firing, which hit the hood and ricocheted off, creating the dazzling and furious display. Sanders panicked and floored the Warthog without telling his passengers. That was his second mistake, and unfortunately, Karla was about to pay for it.

The sudden jerk of the Warthog threw Karla off balance and she swung around a little more than she should have, and now left her at an angle where the LAAGs blast shield no longer provided her protection from enemy fire. A flurry of plasma bolts slammed into her chest and she toppled off of a Warthog going at an excess of sixty miles per hour.

When she hit the ground, the last thing Karla remembered was the sound of Warthogs driving off into the mist. She was wounded, behind enemy lines, and worst of all, left behind by her own Marines. However, these things weren't on Karla's mind. All she could think about was that she was so tired...

**Mackhall Airfield, Lorain**

It had been several hours since Sam, Leo, and the rest of the Marines at Outpost 6 were evacuated and taken back to Lorain. Sam couldn't help but feel disgusted though. In the battle, they had lost thirteen Marines, two of them from her squad. They were tired, battered, and generally unfit to fight, but what did command do? No thanks or nods of appreciation. They just stamped the mission off like yesterday's bills, assigned two new replacements for their squad, and put them right back on the line.

"Some way they show their appreciation."

Leo, who was on duty with her, smirked.

"Come on, at least this is a whole lot better than going out on patrol. We've got a base, hot food, and about two thousand Marines. Plus, we're not getting shot at."

"Yet, Leo, yet."

"Well, as I recall, the Covenant weren't really big on night attacks. Besides, what's gotten you so worked up? I haven't seen you this cranky since the time they refused to let you join the same unit as Karla."  
Sam kept staring off into the endless forests and shook her head.

"Well, it's just that I feel that Karla is doing so much better at, well, _everything._ She's got her own platoon, and they go on the most daring missions-"

"Sam, trust me. You spend four years out on the battlefield, and you'll miss being stationed in a quiet area. The Marines aren't all fun and games you know."

"Yeah..."

Sam sighed, still looking troubled.

"I just can't shake the feeling that Karla's in trouble though."

**Aeolan Wilderness**

**Next Morning**

With the dim light of the sun creeping over the horizon, Karla could finally see the predicament that she was in. For the past two hours, she had been lying in that same spot, unable to move, unable to see what was around her.

Now that she could, Karla wished that she hadn't. Her nose burned with the combined stink of smoldering polymers and flesh, her eyes were constantly swimming out of focus, and were getting harder to keep open. Karla suspected that the fall broke her neck, hence the reason why she couldn't move or feel any sort of pain whatsoever. Karla tried to breathe, and found even that simple task draining on her strength.

She tried to pass the time any way she could, but all she could do was think about her predicament. Judging from the smell and the speed of her fall, Karla suspected that the plasma bolts had scored a direct hit on her. Her armor managed to slow down the bolts so they wouldn't be instantly lethal, but the plasma still burned straight through it, probably causing very nasty burns. The fall should have broken more than her neck. Probably some bones, ribs, and maybe even ruptured several internal organs.

But that didn't really matter. All she knew was that she was as good as dead. Even if rescue came now, there was no way they could get her back to a fully equipped hospital in time.

"Hmph, what a spot you got yourself in Karla, found dead in a ditch by the side of the road. What a glamorous way to die."

"_You shouldn't devalue your life that way, _

The sudden voice made Karla's heart stop, or maybe it just chose that moment to give out, she didn't know.

"_Now now, daughter of Maya, you cannot die now. The Elders have great things in mind for you, and they would be very displeased by your death."_

Karla couldn't see who was speaking, but she _did_ see a curious white light surrounding the area like some powerful aura. The thing, whatever it was, continued to speak.

"_You are lucky that the Elders have decided to be lenient with you this time. I shall heal your wounds, but remember, we do not give favors freely, and the Elders will not be quite as forgiving next time."_

There was a blinding flash of light, and the voice spoke for one last time.

"_I have also come to tell you. The wheel of destruction is in motion, and only you and the Holy One, stained with the blood of gods, can stop it. Seek out your enemy and face the greater evil. That is all I am allowed to say. Farewell, daughter of Maya, may the Powers shine brightly upon you."_

At that moment, Karla woke up and scrambled to her feet.

_Was that real?_

She quickly looked around. She was still standing in that same patch of forest. She quickly scanned her body, and noticed there was no pain, and that she had her full range of movement, as if she had never even gotten any wounds in the first place.

_Probably was a dream._

Then she reached for her vest pocket to grab her compass, when she realized it wasn't there. She looked down and noticed three fist-sized holes burned cleanly into her armor. Underneath, she could see perfectly healthy skin.

_That's impossible. A shot like that would've made some serious burns..._

Still confused and unsure of what just happened, Karla slumped to the ground. She was suddenly very tired. She just lay there for a few minutes until she could hear the distant rumble of a Warthog engine.

"Hey! El-tee!"

Karla looked up, and realized Williams and his squad had come back. She caught sight of Williams, who gave his usual sloppy, boyish grin.

"We finally found you! We were scared to death when we realized you weren't in your Warthog! We came back as soon as we could. Everybody thought you were dead!"

Another Marine, Boxer, piped in.

"But then he just said, 'If there ain't no body, then there ain't nobody dead!', gathered up the squad and just left!"

Karla couldn't help but smile.

"You actually came back through Covvie territory just to make sure I wasn't dead?"

"That, and if you were captured-"

"Or killed..."

"Yeah, or killed, then we would've had to fill out forms."

Karla laughed and pulled herself onto Williams' Warthog.

"Figures."

The trip back was fairly cheerful. There no more attacks, and the squad was glad that they had found their platoon leader again, whom they feared was going to be yet another name ticked off of a list and carved into a pretty stone. Karla tried to keep up with the mood, but something just nagged at the back of her mind.

_Maya... how did that guy know my mother's name?_


	13. No Rest for the Wicked

Author's Notes: Sad to say, its probably going to be a while till you see the next part. I have to start catching up on my Fire Emblem fic, lest my fans there track me down and lynch me. But don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can!

Chapter 13: No Rest for the Wicked

**Sept. 3, 2552**

**Onboard UNSC destroyer _Valiant: In orbit around Aeola_**

"Sensors, do you have anything for me?"  
  
"No sir, our sweeps are clean."

"Good. Alert me if you pick anything up."

"Yes sir."

Captain Rogers lay back in his command chair. So far, the past few months were fairly uneventful for his ship and his crew. Because of Aeola's EM fields, Covenant ships couldn't bear to stay around very long. Usually, the only ships that they saw were cruisers that popped in fast enough to disgorge a number of dropships and jump out as quickly as it could. Usually, those dropships were met by _Valiant_ and its sister ship, the _Fidelity_, and only a small fraction of those dropships managed to pass. But usually, to the annoyance of his crew, both destroyers were often tasked with ground support. Providing planetary bombardments and staging airstrikes for the Marines on the dirt seemed be beneath Navy, but it was a job to do.

Rogers took a look back to the orbital station that he was keeping his ship's orbit in sync with. Actually, it wasn't really a station, just a hastily constructed scaffold covering a warship under construction. Rogers had no idea what kind of ship it would be, but he as told that the _Freedom_ was the cutting edge human spacecraft engineering, combining both human and Covenant technologies.

But the exact specifications of an experimental warship were not his concern. It was his duty to make sure that thing would get out this system in one piece.

"SIR!!"

Startled, Rogers nearly jumped out of his seat.

"What is it, Ensign?"

"Covenant ship inbound! Sensor profile and speed suggest it's a destroyer!"

"Bearing?"

"Coming in at heading zero two niner!"

"That's _crazy_, that heading is going to take them straight into-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the Covenant cruiser's plasma drives flicked for a moment and died. The entire ship went dark until its bow began to glow a dull orange.

"The Covenant ship's orbit is decaying rapidly, sir! It's already hit atmosphere!"

"Sensors! Plot that thing's course! Where is it landing!"

"Uhhh, it's going down in grid six-five."

"In relation to Mackhall airbase please."

"Oh! Uhhh.... About twenty miles southwest, give or take another twenty."

"Communications! Get on line with Mackhall, now! Transmit the ship's heading and approximate landing site and tell them we need Marines down there ASAP!"

**Mackhall Airbase**

Sam and Leo were running down the hallways of the base. They kept going until they found the room they were looking for and dashed in.

"Late as always, Privates!"

"Sorry sir, but-"

"Can the crap, Leo! Just sit down and shutup!"

Both Marines quickly found a chair and sat down.

The briefing room was a fairly large area. It seemed empty though, since the room was originally designed t hold an entire battalion of about 600 men. Right now, only twelve Marines occupied it, including Sergeant Paccone. The room was literally nothing but an empty box. Only several rows of ancient chairs, a raised podium, and a holo screen filled the room. The graffiti, trash, and other junk littered about the area gave homage to the past generations of Marines who sat in the very same room.

"Okay Marines, lets get this started!"

Paccone picked up a remote and pressed a button, activating the holo-screen. It began to project on overhead view of a town.

"This is the town of Robles, just several miles south of Molino. Has a population of roughly ten thousand. Now, we know that the area itself is of little strategic importance, hence why neither side has attempted to approach the town, but-"

Paccone clicked the remote again. The image zoomed out and a number of marks began to show.

"A wave of strange attacks have been reported throughout the outer limits of the town. We thought at first that the Covenant might be moving in on the town, but all the reports suggest that these are animal."

One of the Marines, Collins, raised his hand.

"Yes, Collins?"

"Sir, don't you think this is a job for the cops? I mean, we're the Marines, we're supposed to be soldiers, not dog-catchers."

"That's precisely what the people of Robles thought, and they sent their own expeditions out to try to find out what's going on. The problem is, none of them came back."

All of the Marines stared at each other nervously.

"So, command has seen fit to send a squad of Marines to check out the problem. That's us."

Paccone clicked the remote again. Several arrows and more symbols appeared on the screen.

"Our insertion will be carried out by Pelican. They'll drop us off here in the forests, near where the attacks first started. We check that out, go back the Pelican, and it ferries us to the next area of interest. We also have four more squads moving in to check things out as well, but don't expect them to be nearby for help. We go in with full combat gear. Weapons, rations, the works. We have no idea what's out there and I don't want to get caught in the middle of nowhere unprepared. Is that clear?"

Everybody nodded.

"Good, I expect to see you on the pad in fifteen."

Sam and Leo filed out of the briefing room with everybody else and made their way to the locker rooms.

"Hey Sam, you look so calm. Doesn't this mission give you the creeps?"

"What do you mean, Leo? It's probably a pack of rabid dogs or wolves or something that attacked a bunch of campers."

"And rabid dogs can just make an armed party just disappear into the forest?"

"Just because they disappeared didn't mean the dogs got them. Those forests stretch for hundreds of miles. They could just have easily gotten lost and couldn't find their way back."

"Right."

"Come on, we're just jumping around several spots for a day or two, and like Paccone said, there's no Covvies in the area."

"Supposedly."

"Hey, it's not like we haven't fought them before."

"_Do not take things so lightly, little one. Danger lies everywhere, especially in the most unexpected places."_

Sam stopped.

"Leo, did you just say that?"

"Say what?"

Sam shook her head. She probably just tired.

"No, nothing. Hey, meet you at the pad, okay? I have to make a stop at the armory. My old S2 got slagged by that damn Banshee..."

"Sure, see you later."

Sam took a right at the next hallway and followed the red line to the armory. After signing in and getting past the guards, she walked in and inspected the weapons. Rows of MA5Bs, stacks of M6Ds, crates of grenades, everything that could fulfill any Marine's fantasy. Sam walked through and picked up an S2 AM. She checked it for any flaws and adjusted it slightly Satisfied, she slung the rifle over shoulder and picked up several boxes of rounds. She was getting ready to leave when something caught her eye. She walked a little farther back and noticed it was a type of MA5B she hadn't seen before. She had seen quite a few variations of the MA5B. Some had flashlights, others grenade launchers, and several that even had portable cameras attached. But Sam had never seen this kind of model of MA5B. The barrel was slightly narrower and longer, it had a larger compensator and flashback suppressor, and had a scope mounted on the top of it. Intrigued by this new type of rifle, Sam picked it up and played around with it. It was slightly lighter than an MA5B, the feel was more comfortable, and Sam was confident that it was far more accurate than its more crude and clumsy cousin. She slung the rifle over her shoulder along with her S2AM and picked up a box of clips as well. She was interested in seeing how this weapon would do in combat. She glanced at her chrono. Thirteen minutes had passed.

"Shit! I'm going to be late agaaaain!"

**Elsewhere in the base**

Karla was in the base's motor pool, too busy tricking out and fixing up her Warthog to notice the familiar clicking of boots on the floor until she heard someone call out.  
"Lieutenant Wellings!"

Karla pulled herself from under the Warthog and looked up to see Major Peter Mackenzie. Karla knew him back in her days at Reach, and liked him immensely, which was very rare among her superior officers. Karla quickly snapped to attention.  
"Sir!"

Mackenzie looked at Karla once and nodded.  
"At ease, Lieutenant. I've got some good news and some bad news.

Karla looked at the Major curiously.  
"Good news first, I guess, sir."

"Well then, Colonel Raines believes that your uniform isn't befitting of your rank."

Mackenzie tossed a small box to Karla. She instinctively caught it and opened the box.

"Sir-"

"Congratulations, Captain Wellings. Command has reviewed your past performances and has seen fit to reward you for them."

"And what about Armbruster?"  
"Armbruster has been promoted as well and transferred to another unit. I daresay it's going to be the last time you will see him for a while."

Before she had a chance to jump for joy, something struck Karla.

"Wait, if you're giving me rank now, that means I'm going to have to pull it, right?"

"Smart girl. That's the reason why I liked you the best. But that's where we start getting to the bad news. Command wants you to move out. Now."

"Sir, you can't do that! Our troops haven't even gotten through their rest cycle yet! They're still exhausted and short on-"

"Damnit, Karla, we have no time for this! A Covenant destroyer is about to slam into the planet, and command wants Marines there to secure it! Your unit is the only one available, and that's the one they're sending. See you on the pad in twenty minutes."

"Karla stared long and hard at Major Mackenzie."  
"Make that ten, sir."

"Good girl, Karla. Don't let me down."


	14. Unexpected Company

Author's Notes: Okay, I lied. Another part!

Chapter 14: Unexpected Company

**Crash Site**

By the time Karla and her company arrived at the crash site of the Covenant destroyer, the Marines instantly realized that they were now on salvage duty. The once sleek, teardrop shaped spacecraft was now a mangled heap of junk, like a squeeze toy that had seen a few too many years of abuse. The hull was once a deep purple, but now was an ugly black and brown. A result of the ship burning up in the atmosphere. Behind the destroyer, there was a large canyon that was gouged into the ground as the destroyer slammed onto the planet's surface. What surprised Karla the most though, was the fact that the ship was still fairly intact.

_If that were a human-made ship, there wouldn't be much left to see._

As the convoy drew closer, Karla quickly began issuing orders to her new company.

"First platoon, I want you combing that wreckage and salvage anything you find. Second and Third, spread out and form a defensive perimeter around the crash site. Fourth platoon, go inside the ship and check it out for survivors.

There were a series of quick acknowledgements. None of the Marine's in the Death's Head Legion questioned her authority. Nearly every Marine in the company had either seen, or heard stories, about her combat career.

---------

In the service for over five years, Karla Wellings' CSV was very impressive and many in the UNSC praised her service. It was apparent she was skilled at defeating large, heavily armed enemy forces despite overwhelming numbers, and those tactics played a very large role in the Human-Covenant war, where such skills were needed. One note in her CSV described her participation in the Battle of Serim, where she held off a Covenant attack on Firebase Foxtrot with only forty Marines. She inflicted nearly two hundred Covenant casualties, with only the loss of thirteen Marines. Karla earned a Distinguished Service Cross for that action, and it would not be her last.

But what really made the Marines respect, or fear, her were the wild rumors that spread had spread around. One such rumor was the most popular, and the most debated. It started back before the Human-Covenant War, when the Marines were tasked with dealing with countless brushfire conflicts. It was during one of these conflicts that Karla ran into a Marine who was apparently drunk on duty. She attempted to reprimand the man, the inebriated Marine back-talked her, and made some very rude insults directed at her. What happened next is uncertain. Most Marines insisted that she lost her temper, pulled out a pistol, and shot the Marine in the head. But others say she beat the man within an inch of his life, and another claimed she went farther and beat the man to death. As it turned out, that Marine happened to be the son of a very high ranking UNSC official, which was why Karla never got past Lieutenant for the next five years.

--------

Of course, Karla had also heard of these rumors of herself circulating around.

_If only it were that simple._

Karla got back to concentrating on the job. She hopped out of her Warthog and followed fourth platoon as they made their way into the Covenant destroyer. She wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Also, she wanted to salvage any intact technology she could. Karla knew that it was only a matter of time before ONI had a team of their spooks swarming all over the place, and frankly, she felt very uncomfortable at the thought of having those guys running the show, so she would finish it before they could even start. Unfortunately, the hallways inside the destroyer were just as mangled and twisted as the ship was outside, and it was also pitch black, making the ship difficult to navigate.

Karla, who was trudging through with five other men from fourth platoon, was taking the rear when she accidentally stumbled on a piece of wreckage and fell over. She cursed under her breath and rose up to catch up with the other Marines.

The problem was, they were gone.

Apparently, the Marines did not even notice their own company CO, and more importantly, the person taking up their rear, had fallen behind.

_Just goes to show you how much Armbruster loves to train his men._

Karla got up and tapped her helmet light. Nothing happened. The hall remained dark. Carefully, Karla felt around her helmet, and felt broken glass cut into her glove. Her helmet light was smashed.

_Just fucking great._

As Karla checked her pockets for a spare light, she stopped. She swore she could hear breathing, and it was not hers.

Holy Ralamee was exhausted. He hoped that this was worth all the effort of crashing this ship into Aeola and nearly getting himself killed in the process.

He clicked his mandibles in annoyance. How was he supposed to find this human that enigmatic voice told him to find? To Holy, all humans looked alike. He had trouble discerning their physical features, much less their names.

_Still, I have a duty to fulfill._

Holy pushed some more wreckage over, and heard a loud _crash!_ And what sounded like a human cursing. Holy didn't know why, but he was drawn closer to this sound.

_What am I doing?!_

Carefully, Holy peeked around a corner, and even in the darkness, could make out the shape of a human. Though he wanted to just walk the other way, Holy's feet were firmly planted on the ground. He had the strange feeling, that odds against all odds, this was the human he was looking for.

Karla slowly reached down her belt and picked out a non-lethal concussion grenade. Carefully, she pulled the pin out, counted to three, tossed it into the air beside her, and dropped to the ground.

Holy barely had time to react to the object the human had flung at him.

_I'm going to die!_

Instinctively, Holy dove to the ground and covered his head.

The concussion grenade went off with a _BANG!_, and momentarily filled the hallway with blinding light. The moment it subsided, however, Karla was pointing her assault rifle on the Elite that tried to sneak up on her.

The problem was, the Elite also had a weapon lined up on her.

So there they stood. Both figures, standing in the darkness, waiting for the other to make the first move. Holy, keeping his plasma pistol trained on the human, took the opportunity to examine it more closely.

He discovered that this human was a female, from the shape and figure of her physical form. Furthermore, as indicated by the patches on her armor, she was an officer, but what caught Holy's attention was the nametag embroidered on her vest.

WELLINGS, KARLA

Suddenly, everything made sense now. The dreams, the voices, the clues they left. Everything funneled down to this one point. She was the one that could potentially help save him and his people.

Karla kept a careful eye on the crimson armored Elite. What surprised her was how differently this Elite behaved from the others she had fought. This one seemed more methodical, more intelligent.

"_More human."_

Karla shook the thought out of her head. At the same time, the Elite dropped its weapon and raised its hands.

_What the hell?_

"That is it-"

"-I surrender."

Holy had to shove his honor aside force the words out of his mouth. It was not because his mandibles weren't meant to convey human speech, but because he seriously doubted any Elites had said such words, as that would constitute heresy, but that didn't matter anymore. Holy had done enough "crimes" to punished by a fate worse than the quick clean death heresy deserved.

Karla, likewise, found it very hard to believe what the Elite was saying. Not the fact that it actually spoke English very well, but the fact that it wanted to surrender.

"Bullshit, I've seen Elites stop their own hearts rather than let a Marine touch their armor. What are you planning?"

The human still had her rifle trained on Holy. The Elite sighed in vexation.

"What can I do to earn you trust?"

Karla eyed the Elite carefully.

"Why would you want it?"

"I truly do not know."

Karla fought the urge to pull the trigger. There was something fishy about this Elite...

"Give me a good reason not to blow your brains out."

"Because you don't want to."

Karla lowered her rifle. It was like the damn thing could read her mind. The Elite walked forward and kept his arms raised.

"I come in peace. I have no weapons, and I have deactivated my shields."

"How do I know you won't try something?"

"If I do, then you can just shoot me. For it is you who is armed."

Karla thought a moment and nodded.

"My god, this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder..."

Holy gave the Elite version of a smile.

"Tell me about it."

**Unknown Location**

As the two warriors walked out of the destroyer, three unidentified beings watched on.

_"I hope you know what you are doing, Scohar. Nobody has done anything like this in millenia, relying on mortals."_

_"If this plan fails, you risk dooming this galaxy, and us."_

_"But if we do nothing, then our doom is guaranteed."_

_"Are you positive that this plan will work?"_

_"Nobody other than Maya knows these mortals better. I am very confident in her abilities to provide guidance."_

_"It is not her abilities we are concerned with, Scohar. But rather, yours."_

_"I will protect them as necessary, Askaard. Even if it means sacrificing my own life."_

_"Are you prepared to bear such a burden?"_

_"Valkor, this problem was our doing. It is our duty to set it right again."_

The other two beings nodded in agreement.

_"Very well. I will relay your plans to the Elders. But you must remember, any violation of the Sacred Code will result in dire consequences."_

_"I understand the risks, Askaard. Until we meet again."_

And in an eyeblink, the three beings were gone.


	15. Comrades

Chapter 15: Comrades

**Covenant Crash Site**

Karla tried to ignore the blank looks of pure surprise as she escorted a fully armed and armored Elite out of the wreckage of the Covenant craft, but she knew that was impossible. It was very rare to be able to capture an Elite, and even rarer for an Elite to be willing to surrender. The Elite, Holy was his name, walked out, with restraints cuffing his arms. Seeing what strength Elites were capable of, Karla seriously doubted that those things would hold against an Elite. The only reason that she had put them on in the first place was purely for show. It seemed to lower the stress of the Marines somewhat to see the Elite restrained to some level.

Karla sighed. She knew she was definitely going to deal with ONI about this little event. She didn't exactly look forward to the prospects of explaining all this to some low level flunkie for the rest of the day.

"Hey, Holy."

The Elite cocked his head curiously at the Marine.

"Yes? What is it?"

Karla still couldn't get used to the fact that this thing could speak English so fluently and eloquently while she had no idea how to even comprehend the Elite's own native tongue.

"I was sort of wondering. Why are you doing this? I mean, surrendering to me and all."

The Elite stayed quiet and merely stared into the distance for a long time before answering.

"You could say I had a dream, or more likely, a vision."

Karla still had trouble comprehending what the Elite had said, even as they drove back to base.

**Outskirts of Robles**

Sam did her best to keep up with the other Marines as they trudged through the forest. Though she was used to these long distance marches, she was somewhat hampered by the extra weight produced by the second weapon she was carrying.

"Jeez, Sam. Why are you lugging that thing around? I thought you hated assault rifles."

Sam felt a slight flash of annoyance and scowled.

"This isn't an assault rifle, Leo. Try using your damn eyes for once."

Sam's harsh tone made Leo recoil. He had never heard Sam talk like that, and he had certainly never seen her in such a foul mood.

Sam quickly realized what she had just said, and was about to turn around and apologize to Leo but stopped. First of all, she didn't even know why she was so irritated in the first place. She wasn't even quite sure what to say to Leo, so she kept her mouth shut and continued walking, hoping Leo wouldn't take her words too seriously.

It wasn't surprising that both Marines hoped for something to break the awkward silence. Fortunately, as if by divine intervention, their prayers were answered.

"Hey Sarge, I've been thinking."

Paccone, still leading, didn't even bother to turn and look.

"I doubt that happens much, Riker, but go ahead."

"Well, doesn't this place remind you of Sera Gamma?"  
"Oh yes, Riker, this place is EXACTLY like Sera Gamma, except for a few minor discrepancies. First, we've got adequate supplies, and hot food in our stomachs. Second, we're not living in shitty little foxholes for weeks on end. Third, the trees aren't fucking exploding from Covenant artillery, and lastly, we're not under fire from a constant stream of Covenant plasma every _five fucking seconds!_ But yeah, besides, that, it's _exactly_ like Sera Gamma."

All the other Marines snickered at the sarcasm dripping in Paccone's voice, while Riker was noticeably more subdued.

"Sorry sir."

"You god damn right you are. Harolds, hit for me."

"Yes sir."

The tall, thickly build Marine quickly complied with Paccone's order, and gave a swift, hard smack to the back of Riker's helmet.

"Hey!"

While all this was going on, Leo took another chance to glance at Sam. Tears were literally streaming down her face as she tried not to laugh. Leo was slightly confused and intrigued at her sudden mood swing, but shrugged it off. Maybe it was just some sort of battlefield sickness.

**Unknown Location**

Chaos momentarily stirred from his meditation. His psionic sweeps had detected quite a few humans in the immediate area. Chaos was familiar with, and not worried about, these creatures. Though he did have to thank them somewhat for contributing so greatly to his recent successes. What piqued his interest, however, was that one of the humans seemed slightly different. Different enough to warrant Chaos diverting several minions to investigate...

**Mackhall Airbase**

Karla sat back in her Warthog and tried to relax. For the past four hours, she waited outside the ONI Ops building waiting for them to finish debriefing her new Elite friend. She hoped that the Elite would remember the tips she gave him about ONI interrogations. Basically, you just told the spooks whatever they wanted to hear. Nothing more, nothing less. The arrogant little jerks were pretty gullible to the point of stupidity, and as long as you knew what to say, you could pretty much get out of any interrogation quickly and easily.

Actually, why _had_ she given that Elite advice? Karla stopped to think. She didn't know why, but she somehow trusted the Elite, even though she only met him for a few hours. Also, the Elite seemed to be feeling the same way, and was just as confused.

However, before she could delve further into her thoughts, Karla heard the front door of the Ops building open, and she turned to look. She saw three ONI personnel, the interrogators, walk out and hop into a black Warthog, obviously satisfied with their interrogation. Holy followed a few seconds later, with a full squad of Helljumpers with weapons ready.

"I'll take the Elite from here, Sergeant."

The sergeant, who was a hardened Helljumper, didn't take orders from normal Marines very well.

"This is a level 5 prisoner _sir._ Regulations state that any prisoner with a rating of 5 or higher must be escorted by at least four Marines, _sir_."

Karla felt a muscle twitch somewhere near her eye, but it was imperceptible enough that she doubted the Helljumpers noticed. She pumped as much venom in her voice as she could and quickly replied.

"Well, _sergeant_, you're disobeying a direct order from a superior officer. Regulations state that I can court-marshal you for gross insubordination, which will result in either getting you and your squad thrown into jail for the rest of your miserable little lives, thrown out of the Marines, or put on the frontlines of some distant god-forsaken backwater fuel dump on the edge of the known galaxy, Helljumper or not. Do you still want to question my authority, _sergeant_?"

The Helljumper managed to keep his face even, but Karla knew he had to be more than a little shaken. Even Helljumpers knew when to quit when the battle began to get tougher. Without a word, the sergeant made a hasty retreat, and motioned for his men to follow.

After making sure that the Helljumpers were out of earshot, Karla turned to Holy.

"You know, you could've backed me up there."

"What? You were doing fine."

Karla sighed. She wasn't looking forward to what would happen when that sergeant went to appeal to his commanding officer. She glanced over at Holy and finally took note of his armor.

"Hey, Holy. I've always wondered, why do you wear that bright red armor."

Holy sniffed and straightened up, as if he were proud of what he was wearing.

"It shows our status in Elite society, and conveys the powers and responsibilities we possess."

"Oh, so that's what it was for."

Holy glanced at Karla.

"What did _you_ think it was for?"

Karla shrugged and gave a lopsided grin.

"Target practice."

The Elite stopped for a second, and then gave a short, high-pitched roar that Karla deduced as an Elite version of a laugh.

"I am familiar with your 'jokes'. They are meant to convey humor, correct?"

Karla gave a positively evil smile.

"Who says I was?"

Holy immediately stopped laughing just as Karla started to.

"Man, you're just way too gullible. Now come on, and let's do something about that armor before some hick with a shotgun nails you in the head."


	16. Everything Hits the Fan

Chapter 16: Everything Hits the Fan

**Outskirts of Robles**

So far, the patrol had been generally quiet. Sam and her squad had already checked out four potential "hot spots" for strange activity, but as of yet, there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary. Most of the squad members were now getting slightly agitated and impatient as the seemingly pointless patrols dragged on, and were starting to brag about going back on the front and facing Covenant head on.

Leo, meanwhile, was up front as the pointman. Leo always hated to be the one in the lead, since, statistically, the Marines who took up the front suffered more casualties than any other position on a squad per squad basis.

Shaking off his nervousness, Leo scaled a shallow ridge and brushed aside some low branches.

What he saw was enough to have him starting sprinting back to his sergeant.

**Mackhall Airbase**

Holy stared glumly at his new armor. During the past hour, Karla and several Marines had taken his protective suit and spray painted the crimson red into a dark UNSC Marine Green. In his head, Holy knew that the new color scheme served a practical purpose. It would improve his camouflage rating and lower the chances of a human accidentally shooting him. But Holy still couldn't shake the feeling that some of his honor and pride was being covered up as well. The Elite was used to having the bright colors displaying an Elite's power and status within the military, and being painted green was considered an insult or punishment by most Elites.

Karla seemed to catch Holy's unease with his new color and decided to pry a little.

"Hey Holy, why are you so glum? Green not your color?"

The Elite tilted his head towards Karla and shrugged.

"I understand the practical applications for such a change, but my unease is caused mostly from ceremonial and traditional beliefs."

"Really? Like what?"

Holy took a deep breath. He would have some explaining to do.

"As you know, in the Elite military, all rank is based on the color and type of armor they wear. Blue Elites signify the lowest rank. Red for higher ranks, Black for special operations, Gold for Field Masters, and Silver for the highest rank possible."

Karla frowned at the explanation.

"I thought Gold Elites were the highest."

Holy shook his head and continued.

"Silver Elites have more authority than Field Masters, but rarely ever go onto the field. They mainly stay behind the lines with the Prophets. They act as personal bodyguards, aides, and representatives of Prophets, and their authority in Elite society is second to none. As for their title, it is a little difficult to translate it into your English, but the world roughly translates into 'Knight of Heaven'."

"I'm still not seeing how Green Elites come into all of this."

"Well, the Elite military used to have an official class of Green Elites. Originally, there were meant to be scouts and pathfinders, though most Field Marshals and Knights were too conservative to be able to understand the role these units played. They were grossly misused, which resulted in extreme casualties, failed missions, and eventually, the disbanding of all of the scout units. After that, the color green was associated with failure and humiliation. Most instructors today would garb an unruly trainee in such colors as a form of punishment."

Karla winced at the little history lesson of Elite culture.

"That's horrible! You Elites take color that seriously?"

Holy nodded.

"It's an integral part of our society."

Karla then started to mumble under her breath.

"And I thought Humanity had problems dealing with color..."

Holy tilted his head in confusion.

"What?"  
  
"Long story."

**Outskirts of Robles**

"It's a Pelican alright."

Paccone examined the wreckage strewn about the forest clearing. Judging from the state of decay on the metal, and the body parts, lying around the clearing, the dropship had been here for quite some time already.

"One of ours, sir?"

Paccone shook his head.

"No, private. See that color scheme? That ain't normal UNSC camo. Marines never paint Pelicans black. Too conspicuous. My guess is, it's probably some sort of civilian variant or something..."

"Sir! I found something here!"

Paccone turned to where Leo was. The Marine was holding up a large chunk of metal. It was worn, scratched, and burnt, but the insignia painted on the metal was unmistakable.

"Well I'll be damned. What the hell was ONI doing out here?"

Before his question could be answered however, there was a sudden rustling in the bushes behind him. Paccone and the other Marines spun around.

"Carter, Jennings, check that out. Wellings, you cover them."

The three Marines nodded and slowly inched their way toward where the rustling occurred. Seconds seemed to drag into hours as they drew closer to the bushes, until something poke its head out. Jennings sighed in relief.

"Christ, it's just a damn dog."

At that moment, the dog bared massive, rotting teeth and leapt at Jennings. The Marine shrieked as the creature landed on his chest and started to tear his throat out by the mouthful. Leo quickly let off a burst of assault rifle fire, which blew the mad dog back five feet. Sam knelt down to check Jennings, but it was a wasted gesture. The Marine was already dead.

One of the Marines behind stared gape-jawed.

"What the FUCK was that?!?"

"Shut it, private! Carter! Wellings! Grab Jennings' tags, then we can get the hell out of here!"

Wellings took one look at what was left of Jennings' throat. The dog had torn off so flesh, that the Marine may have very well been decapitated.

"But sir-"

"Do it NOW, Wellings! We're not sure how many of those things are-"

Before he could finish his sentence however, one of the Marines yelled.

"Holy crap! The damn thing's alive!"

Paccone whipped around to look, and sure enough, the dog was already trying to scramble to it's feet, growling and barking. It seemed to have trouble getting back onto its feet, but the dog was definitely alive.

"Impossible!"

Just then, there was more growling and howling coming from the forest. A Marine screamed as another dog leapt out of nowhere and landed on his back, tearing into his spine. Paccone turned and fired three shots from his pistol. He saw three direct hits, but the dog wasn't even phased.

"The hell-"

Soon, five more dogs emerged from the bushes, teeth bared and ready to attack. Paccone and the a couple of other Marines opened fire with their assault rifles, but it didn't seem to have much affect. The dogs would merely just fall over and get back up again. Seeing that there was no way they could bring these dogs, or whatever these things were, down, Paccone snatched a grenade and yelled.

"Everybody! Fall back! Back to the Pelican!"

He didn't need to say it twice. In an instant, the remaining Marines took off back into the forest. Paccone stayed behind for a few seconds, long enough to throw his grenade into the middle of the pack of dogs tearing away at what was left of Walter's corpse...

Sam nearly skidded to a stop when she heard a loud _bang_ come from the clearing. She thought the worst had happened until she felt something slam in her back, pushing her forward.

"Keep moving, goddamnit! KEEP MOVING!"

The Marines kept running back to their pickup point. Just a few more feet away, and they would be back to the relative safety of the Pelican.

Unfortunately, the unearthly howls and groans behind them began to grow louder.


	17. Your Problems Begin AFTER You Land

Chapter 17: Your Problems Begin AFTER You Land

**Outskirts of Robles**

Sam and Paccone both dashed to where the Pelican was, with the dogs quite literally snapping at their heels. Sam quickly turned and took some shots at the beasts, but all it did was slow them down a little and make them angrier.

Paccone, meanwhile, was still making a dash for the Pelican's door. He stopped long enough to yank Sam by the collar and toss her into the Pelican before jumping in and slamming the door shut. The pilot turned from his seat to see what all the commotion was about.

"What the hell are you guys doing back there?"

At that moment, one of the dogs, which was partly disemboweled from Sam's gunfire, leapt onto the Pelican's windshield. The dog slammed into the transparent barrier with a loud, meaty THUMP, and then slid off, leaving intestines and blood smeared all over the windshield. The pilot's eyes opened in fright.

"Holy _SHIT!_"

In record time, the Pelican shot up into the sky like a cork and blasted away at full speed. Most of the Marines, unprepared for such a sudden liftoff, were thrown off their feet and pressed against the floor of the Pelican due to the high-G maneuver. It took several more minutes until the pilot finally calmed down.

"Okay, just what in the _fuck_ where those?!"

Paccone, scrambling to his feet, grumbled.

"Hell if I know. Get on line with the other squads, and warn them about these things?"  
  
"What the hell should I say? Rabid, disemboweled dogs are attacking?"

"Just give me that-"

Paccone snatched the radio mike from the pilot's hand and turned it on. He switched to the global UNSC frequency and attempted to hail any other UNSC forces in the vicinity.

"This is Sergeant Paccone of second squad. All other units, report your status, over."

No answer.

"This is Sergeant Paccone of second squad. If there are any UNSC units out there, please respond now."

No answer.

Paccone turned to the pilot.

"You sure this thing is working?"

"Yes sir. The thing is running fine. Maybe the signal isn't reaching them. The mountains and trees get pretty high and thick in these parts."

"Right. Then in that case, get to the nearest squad's rally point. We'll try to hook up with them that way-"

Suddenly, a warning klaxon blared and lights began flashing throughout the cockpit. The pilot frantically started reaching around the controls to find the problem.

**Mackhall Airbase**

"Captain Wellings"

Karla turned from her conversation with Holy to see Major Mackenzie standing behind them, with a very grim look on his face.

"Don't tell me-"

"I'm sorry to do this to you, Karla, but we're sending you out again."

"Don't you guys have any other units that can do the job?"

"I'm sorry Karla, it's out of my hands. You know how these things work."

Karla took a deep breath and tried to relax, but she still kept a steady eye on Mackenzie.

"Right. What do they want me to do this time?"  
  
"Just a few hours ago, we received intelligence reports of Covenant reinforcements touching down."  
  
"That's bad, right?"

"Very. The brass obviously wasn't expecting a revitalized Covenant offensive, and they were in the middle of shifting units around. None of them are in position to combat this new force, and the Covenant position places them very close to an ONI installation codenamed Omega."

"I don't recall ONI having _any_ installations on this planet."

Mackenzie leaned over, lowered his voice, and looked around as if someone might've been watching.

"They don't really advertise it, but ONI has dozens of these little facilities scattered around the planet. But you didn't hear that from me."

Karla nodded as Mackenzie straightened up.

"What sort of opposition am I facing?"

"About two thousand ground troops. Assorted."

"Against about two hundred Marines. "

"Actually, you'll have to make that about fifty. The installation is inaccessible to ground vehicles, and we've only got enough Pelicans to take a platoon. Nothing more."

"So you just want me take down an entire Covenant army with just a platoon? I thought this was going to be a challenge."

Mackenzie let amusement spread across his face.

"Now that's the Karla I taught and raised. Oh yes, and you're going to have to choose which platoon to take with you."

Karla couldn't help but smile.

"I've already got one in mind, sir."

**Pelican**

"What's wrong?"

The pilot pressed several more buttons, and brought up a diagnostic program on his screen. The text and symbols on it may have very well been written in Byzantine to Paccone, but the pilot was able to read it like a kindergarten book.

"Shit. We've got a fuel pump failure in one of the engines."

As if on cue, one of the engines started to sputter, like a dying old man coughing his last breath. The Marines started to get nervous. There were many stories about spectacular mechanical failures on the part of the Pelicans, and the often gruesome results that followed.

"Can we still stay in the air?"

The pilot looked at Paccone as if he just said that pigs could fly.

"On one engine? No way in hell. The good engine will get overstressed trying to compensate for the failed one, and then we'd end up with no engines rather than just one."

Paccone kept steady, thinking through their options.

"How far?"

"Well, if the engine-"

"How far?"

This time, Paccone's voice was a growl, with a hint of hostility in it.

"I don't know, twenty, thirty miles at most."

"Can you get us to Robles?"

"I can try, but the landing isn't going to be pretty."

"As they say in the Helljumpers..."

Paccone looked out the Pelican's cockpit, still as grim as ever.

"All your problems begin _after_ you land."


	18. The Most Unexpected Thing

Chapter 18: The Most Unexpected Thing

**Robles**

Like all of the towns on Aeola, the buildings were shrouded in a deep mist, giving them a dead, ghostlike quality. There were rarely any people out, since they usually had little reason to anyway. Besides, there wasn't much to do or see in fog-ridden planet.

Things would have gone on like this, if it weren't for an unearthly shriek filling the air.

"Brace yourselves! This landings going to be rough!"

The pilot was straining while he was saying this, however, as all that was keeping the Pelican steady in the air was sheer brute force the pilot was using to steady the control stick. Yet, even with all of his efforts, the ground was coming toward them frighteningly fast, and if there was one thing that was proven in all of flight history, it was that whenever the ship and ground went up against each other, the ground always came out on top.

The pilot quickly slapped a button, activating the Pelican's airbrakes. Large flaps opened up on the sides of the Pelican, increasing drag and slowing them down from insane to near-insane velocities. The pilot tried to angle the Pelican onto a small landing pad, but he was only partially successful. The left wing of the Pelican clipped a nearby building, sending the Pelican into a wild spin. The result was the Pelican slamming into the ground at an angle, causing it to roll several times across the tarmac until it finally came to dead stop. Seconds later, the hatch opened up, and the pilot and a dozen dazed Marines staggered out of the drophsip.

Paccone brushed himself off and straightened out his uniform, and took one look at the Pelican.

"Well, looks we're going have to find a different way out of this place."

"We'll see about that."

The pilot then scrambled onto the wrecked Pelican, popping open access hatches to see how deep the damage was.

"So, can we get this pile of junk flying or not?"

The pilot, slightly annoyed at the insult, popped open more access hatches.

"Fortunately, the damage is mostly cosmetic. The core systems are still functional. All I need are a few spare parts and a couple of hours of time..."

Paccone grunted and looked around the pad again. There were no other vehicles around, and the place was pretty much empty.

"Alright. Sykes, Richards, Foley, Helson, you stay here and hold the fort. I'll take the rest of the squad out and recon the surrounding area. Try to find a friendly face around here or something.

"Yes sir!"

"But sir, how are we supposed to get around? We're not going to get far on foot."

"No worries, Carter. When there's a will, there's a way."

Paccone pointed, and Leo turned to look. There, sitting in a row, was a line of parked civilian maintenance Warthogs.

"And you're going to be driving."

Leo sighed.

"Yes sir."

**En route to the Omega Installation**

Four Pelicans barreled off at top speed toward ONI's top secret "Omega" Installation. Karla had no idea what was in there that made the place so valuable, but she had her suspicions, and she partly wished that they would be wrong.

"You seem troubled."

Karla looked up and faced Holy, who was sitting in the seat across from her.

"Just thinking about some things."

"You have doubts about this mission."

"How do you know?"

Holy merely smiled.

"I've spent a large portion of my service studying human behavior. I am very well versed in human emotions and body language."

Karla sighed.

"It's just that I'm not too fond on doing ONI's wet work for them. Whenever they need Marines to do something for them, it's either because they don't have the guts to do it themselves, or if they do, it'll become very embarrassing for them. It's just that feeling of being used that gets at me."

Holy nodded and didn't say anything more. Memories of his fallen comrades began to seep back into his mind.

As if on cue, there was a sudden rumbling in the Pelican, and the pilot's voice called out.

"Alright people, it's the home stretch! Five minutes till the DZ. I suggest you strap up, get those barf bags out, and please be seated until the dropship comes to a full and complete stop."

Karla looked out the window, and saw a huge system of mountain ridges, valleys, and narrow passes. The place indeed looked like it was totally inaccessible by land. Further up, Karla could make out the faint outline of several large buildings through the fog, dug into one of the nearby mountains.

Omega.

**Robles**

"This is freaking creeping me out."

Leo shivered as they drove through the town. Very much like the landing pad, there really wasn't much around to see except for mist and empty shadows of buildings. Sam, meanwhile, was sitting in the rear trunk where the gun would be mounted, eyes darting back and forth for movement.

"I mean, there's nobody out here."

"Maybe they evacuated. You know, with the Covenant threat and all."

"Sam, did you forget what people from Robles were like? Stubborn to the core. They wouldn't move out no matter what, even if you threatened to nuke them."

Sam realized that Leo was right. People in Robles would _never_ leave, even under the threat of death. The town had suddenly become a lot more ominous than before.

"Okay, so then where is everybody?"

At that moment, there was a strange groaning sound coming from their right. Sam and Paccone whipped around to see where it came from.

Nothing but fog.

"Wellings, you see anything?"

Sam squinted, but she couldn't make out any movement whatsoever.

"No sir."

"Then lets keep going. There has to be someone around here."

There was more groaning. It was louder, closer now. Sam looked back to see several silhouettes coming in from the right side.

"Sir, we've got-"

"I see them."

Leo turned the Warthog to move a little closer, but there was something about this that unsettled Sam.

"Sir, there's something wrong about this."

Paccone nodded, and clicked the safety of his assault rifle off.

"Yeah, I'm getting a bad feeling too."

The three other Marines in the second Warthog jumped out to greet the visitors, but then something went wrong. Horribly wrong.

One of the townspeople lunged at the Marines with a high pitched shriek. One of the yelped and fell back, firing at the advancing figure. The person was blasted back a couple of feet and lay on the ground twitching.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry sir, I'm sorry!"

But then, as in response to the gunfire, the rest of the shapes let out a similar shriek and began to charge.

"Open fire!"

All six Marines began blasting away at the advancing townspeople, but like the dogs, whenever they fell, they just heaved themselves up again as if they hadn't felt a thing.

"What the fuck are these things?!?"

One of the Marines, Plenka, panicked and drew a grenade. As he pulled the pin, however, a crazed person lunged and bit his arm. Plenka shrieked and dropped the grenade, which rolled right under the Warthog behind him.

The blast ignited the Warthog's fuel tanks and exploded. All Sam saw was a brilliant flash of light, a sharp pain in her head, and then darkness.


	19. Omega

Author's Notes: Sorry for the lack of updates, people! Last few weeks have been REALLY busy for me, but no worries! Next chapter is here, and a new story is on it's way shortly! Look out for it!

PS: Also, these things may be related to Flood, but aren't _exactly_ like them…

Chapter 18: Omega

**Omega Facility**

Karla and the rest of her Marines piled out of the Pelicans the moment they touched down. Before they lifted off, however, the Pelicans also detached the Warthogs they were carrying. All in all, they had about a platoon's worth of Marines and four Warthogs with various armaments.

"First squad, second squad, with me! Third squad, form a perimeter around the facility. Fourth squad, take those Warthogs and patrol those forests! I don't want any Covvies taking us by surprise!"

A chorus of acknowledgements followed as the squads moved to perform their assigned duties.

Karla took a look at the Omega facility. Like most secret facilities and bases, it was built much like an iceberg. Very little of the actual structure was exposed to the surface, while the majority of the essential facilities and labs were built deep underground. All Karla could see was a squat bunker and a flight control tower for incoming craft. A somewhat flimsy looking chain-link fence surrounded the bunker, and most of the auto-defense turrets spread around key locations looked as if they were off line. Already, some of the Marines were questioning the importance of this place.

"Cheap operation."

"More like a pathetic operation."

"Can't believe we got dropped off in Covvie territory for this piece of shit."

Karla shook her head and walked toward the front gate. A small console was jutting out of the ground like some miniature monolith. On it, Karla could see what looked like a palm reader and an intercom system.

"Mmm, what the hell."

Karla slowly took off her glove and pressed her palm against the hand-shaped icon on the console. The machine beeped once, and replied in a flat, electronic voice.

"ACCESS DENIED. TRY AGAIN."

Karla was somewhat dejected, but she didn't really expect that method to work. She looked at the console again and keyed the intercom. No answer. She keyed it again, but still got no answer inside.

Holy looked over Karla's shoulder and examined the device.

"It appears that way didn't work."

Karla cracked a smile.

"Which is exactly why we do it the Marine way. Hit it, boys!"

Already, several Marines had rushed over to the gate and already had C7 charges planted on it. Karla was about to arm the detonators when the comm on the console buzzed to life.

"What the-?"

Over the static buzz, Karla could hear a faint and very weak voice, though she couldn't tell whether it was the equipment or if the person on the other end was injured somehow.

"Someone… please….help….help….help…."

Karla immediately popped the safety cap off the detonator and hit the trigger. The C7 charges exploded along key joints and hinges on the gate, making the entire structure fall over and slam into the ground.

Karla checked her assault rifle to see if it was loaded and clicked off the safety. Behind her, she could hear Holy doing the same thing.

Williams and squads one and two followed up closely behind. Williams managed to catch up to Karla.

"Cap! What are we doing?"

Without even stopping or turning around, Karla started planting more C7 charges on the bunker door.

"Seeing if we can actually _save _someone's life for a change."

**Robles**

The world was only a blur, but Sam managed to pull herself to her feet. Bad move. The moment she got up, a wave of dizziness slammed into her like a brick wall and Sam found herself back on the ground lying in a heap.

"Are you okay?"

Still lying on her back, Sam turned over to see a girl. Long blonde hair, bright blue eyes…

_Christ, she looks just like me!_

The girl was also very young. She probably couldn't have been more than twelve years old or something.

"Yeah, just second…"

Sam made a move to get up, but instantly regretted that decision. As if in response to her movement, her entire body responded by exploding in pain. Sam winced, but still made a concentrated effort to get up. The girl rushed over and helped Sam steady herself.

"I don't think you should be standing, miss! I think you're hurt!"

Sam merely picked up her sniper and battle rifles and looked around.

"I don't exactly have much of a choice, uh…"

The girl smiled again, seemingly oblivious to the carnage around them.

"Collete."

"…Collete. I don't know what's going on around here, and I sure as hell don't want to find out. Also, call me Sam. Calling me 'miss' makes me feel old."

"Okay. So are you going to help us?"

Sam stared blankly at Collete.

"What?"

"Help our town? The people have been acting really weird lately, and lot of them have been fighting each other…"

Sam took another look around. She saw two charred bodies near a burnt out Warthog. She saw the second one. It looked pretty badly damaged, but still functional. There were no other bodies.

_Leo… Sarge…_

She quickly shook the thoughts out of her head and tried to think of what to do, but how could she do that if she didn't even know what the hell was going on?

"Okay Collete, let me ask you something…"

**Omega Facility**

Karla and two squads of Marines slowly moved into the facility. The top floor of this building obviously housed nonessential rooms and equipment. There was a small motor pool, and a few doorways led off into several administrative rooms, storage closets, a recreation hall, and a kitchen. They had swept every room here except for the rec hall and the kitchen, and were moving in. Karla came up the rec hall door and tried to open it, but the door refused. It was locked.

"Great, this is going to take a little longer…"

Holy stepped forward.

"Allow me. I believe I know a quicker way."

Karla wasn't aware that the Elite had knowledge of how to crack open human door lock systems. Actually, there were a lot of things this Elite knew that she didn't.

"Well... alright. Go ahead."

Holy examined the door for a few seconds, checking the lock, hinges, and other points of interest. Then, Holy backed up a little and gave the door a swift kick with one of his powerful legs. The hinges instantly snapped and the door fell in like a crushed toothpick.

"I thought you were actually going to _open_ the thing."

Holy shrugged.

"It was faster."

"Good point."

Karla and Holy both moved through the door. During her time as a Marine, Karla had seen a lot of things, some of which still gave her nightmares to this day, but nothing prepared her for what she saw next.


	20. Paint the Town Red

Chapter 19: Paint the Town Red

**Robles**

"Well…"

Collete bit her lip and shifted her gaze a little, as if she didn't really want to explain the strange things going on.

"I don't know if you'll believe me or not…"

"Trust me, after what's happened, I'll believe ANYTHING."

Collete looked up at Sam again, unsure whether the Marine was serious or not.

"Okay, but it's going to sound strange…"

Sam sat and listened. As Collete went on, Sam felt the uneasiness in her stomach rising. Even after Collete finished her story, Sam was still trying to make ends meet. The dead walking? The entire city getting invaded? It just made no sense.

"Okay, you're totally sure that these guys are undead, or whatever you think they are? Sure they just aren't a bunch of crazy guys?"

Collete shook her head.

"Nothing seems to kill them, and it seems to spread like a disease."

Sam glanced around nervously. She was getting more nervous by the second.

"Right, I guess we should-"

Before she could finish, however, Sam saw Collete's horrified expression. The girl's eyes widened in fright. It took a few seconds for Sam to realize she was staring at something _behind_ her.

"_BEHIND YOU!"_

Sam turned and noticed a person standing behind her. Unlike any normal person though, this one stared at her with cold, dead eyes. The person, or former person, opened its mouth to reveal dozens of blood covered teeth and growled. It lunged at Sam, shrieking for human flesh. Sam backed away and raised her battle rifle. Three rounds tore through the zombie's chest, but that didn't even slow it down. Sam kept firing at it, but the thing still kept coming.

Sam wasn't quite sure what happened next, but it felt as if something shifter her rifle, snapping the barrel up several degrees. This time, three rounds went straight through the zombie's head. The thing gurgled and flopped to the ground, violently twitching. Sam stepped over it, and quickly put it out of its misery with another three rounds to the face. Taking one more look at the thing, she muttered.

"So you _can_ kill these things…"

Sam turned and saw that Collete was fine.

"Okay, we're going to have to get out of here. The dropship that took me here is over at the landing pad. We're going to have to get there fast, though."

Collete looked at the Warthog, which was mangled from the explosion and from flying shrapnel.

"In THAT piece of junk?"

Sam took out a fresh ammo clip from her belt and reloaded her rifle.

"It's either that piece of junk, or we WALK to the landing pad. And I don't think you'd want to do that with all the zombies crawling around here."

Collete realized that the Marine was right, and hopped into the passenger seat.

Sam was about to hop into the driver seat until a wave of nausea hit her. She backed off a little trying to shake off the disorientation. She also caught flashes of visions, and a spark of rage at something, but she shook it off and got into the jeep. This zombie crap was seriously getting to her.

**Omega**

Karla fought to keep the bile from rising from her throat. The scene she saw was horrifying. Dead bodies were everywhere. Scattered and thrown around like broken toys. Blood was smeared all over the walls and floor, and the stench of death was thick enough to see in the air.

What really made the scene unsettling, though, was not just how the room looked, but in the manner that most of the men were killed. All of them had their eyes wide open in fear and mouths stuck open from screaming. It would've looked as if these men had died from fright if it weren't for their wounds.

Several had missing limbs, others torn in half and in pieces. A couple had broken necks, with damage so visible that it looked as if something tried to twist their heads right off. One man even had his innards ripped out and strung around like tinsel on a Christmas tree, and from the expression on his face, while he was _alive_.

Karla backed against a corner, tripped over a body, and found herself vomiting on the floor. She looked up and saw that even Holy, an Elite, was visibly shaken from carnage surrounding them. If this could even freak out a Covenant Elite, she did NOT want to know who or what killed these men.

Karla staggered to her feet, trying to keep her breathing under control. She closed her eyes, and tried to regain her nerve. She was only partially successful.

"O- okay, lets keep moving…"

The other two squads of Marines filed into the room. Some of them fainted, many puked, all were terrified. Karla looked at Holy. He seemed to be on the edge of a nervous collapse. He merely stood there muttering a prayer under his breath.

Leaving them behind, Karla moved cautiously into the kitchen, rifle raised. Unfortunately, the kitchen was very much the same as the rec room, with dead and mutilated men scattered about. The kitchen seemed clear, until Karla noticed the freezer in the back. It was large enough to fit a man inside. Karla knew that she had to check it, but f eared what she would find. Carefully, she grabbed the latch with trembling hands.

The body of a man tumbled out and fell right on top of her.

**Robles**

Chaos wandered the streets, along with his escort of undead/Flood minions. Like any powerful leader, Chaos always kept the most powerful and genetically superior strains close to himself. He knew he was close to what he was looking for. Chaos reached out with his consciousness and found what he was looking for. He mentally touched a probed it, to gauge its reactions.

It responded perfectly.

Chaos smiled, and mentally ordered his escorts away. They would attract too much attention. Besides, Chaos intended to do this on his own.


	21. Regroup!

Chapter 20: Regroup!

**Robles**

Leo was knocked to the ground when the Warthog exploded. He hit face first, and was deciding on whether just to lie on the ground or not when something grabbed him by the back of the collar and hauled him up.

"Don't nap on the job, Marine, or you'll wish these zombie freaks get you first!"

With that, Paccone raised his battle rifle and peppered the oncoming horde with bullets. Leo began to fumble with his own battle rifle when Paccone yelled.

"Shoot em in the head! It's the only thing that seems to put them down!"

Leo looked, and saw that it was indeed true. The only zombie… _things_ that were down for good were the ones that seemed to have been shot in the head. Leo started firing, but even though dozens of zombies were going down, even more came to take their place.

"It's no good! We're going to have to fall back!"

Then, like a crack of thunder, Leo instantly remembered Sam. He looked back, desperately trying to look for his best friend, but through the wall of enemies, he couldn't see a thing.

"Sir, what about-"

"We've got no time it, Marine! We're out of here NOW!"

As if punctuating his words, a grenade exploded in the midst of the group of zombies, opening up a small gap between them.

"It's now or never!"

Paccone then half-ran, half-dragged Leo through the gap, let off a volley of fire at the zombies, and disappeared into the mist.

…

"We should have stayed! We should've looked for her!"

Taking refuge inside a small shop, Leo was still beating himself up over leaving Sam behind.

"Stow it, Carter. We don't have time to start bitching about what we didn't do. I lost some good friends back there too."

Paccone was quiet for a moment, but like a flash of lightning, he reverted back to his normal, gruff self.

"Right. Well, our objective now is to get back to the Pelican, and get out of this hellhole."

"Good idea sir, but…"

"But what?"

"It's going to be a pretty long walk to the landing pad sir, especially with all those zombie things out there."

"Then it looks like we're going to have to _run_ over there then. You loaded?"

"Yes sir!"

Coincidentally, the shop they took shelter in just happened to be a military surplus store, and that store just happened to have some surplus UNSC Marine-grade weaponry and ammunition stashed away.

"Good, because it's going to be a long walk."

"You mean _run_, don't you, sir?

Paccone smiled and kicked the front door open.

**Omega**

"Holy shit!"

Karla fell backwards as a person fell on her. She tried to shove him off, until she realized that, unlike the other men back there, this one was still alive. At that moment, Holy and several Marines came in to see what the commotion was all about.

"Cap?"

Karla looked up, and turned the man over onto his back.

"Get a medic, NOW!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Seconds later, another Marine came into the kitchen. He knelt down to examine the sole survivor.

"Damn, he's in pretty bad condition. He's got hypothermia, and just beginning to get frost bite. Where the hell did you find him?"

"Freezer."

"Ah."

"So what can you do?"

The medic opened his medkit and shuffled through its contents.

"Well… I can give him some steroid and adrenaline injections, to boost his metabolism and warm him up, but only time can really do anything."

Karla nodded. She looked around, and remembered the twisted playground of dead bodies surrounding her.

"Okay, lets get this guy out into some fresh air. And tell everybody to clear out all the bodies. The least we can do for these guys is bury them."

"Yes ma'am.

"Holy."

The Elite raised his head.

"Yes?"

"You're coming with me. We've got some other things to check out."

The Elite looked at the medic. The medic merely shrugged, and proceeded to drag the unconscious survivor away.

"Where are we going?"

Karla walked back out of the room and headed towards the other end of the installation.

"Just to clarify a few suspicions I have about this place."

**Robles**

Leo reloaded his rifle again and kept firing. He had no idea how or why, but whenever they were out in the open these things seemed to be able to track them wherever they went. It was just impossible to shake them off.

"This way!"

Leo turned to see Paccone back up toward another unoccupied shop. He began to back up as well, pumping shots into the oncoming crowd. By the time he reached the door, Paccone had kicked the door open.

"Come on! Get in!"

Leo dashed inside the store. The minute he cleared the door, Paccone slammed it shut and braced it with several brooms and mops he found. There was a pounding sound on the other side of the door, but they soon subsided and completely stopped, as if the zombies had suddenly lost interest. Leo looked out the window and could see the zombie things shambling along aimlessly though the mist.

"What the hell are these things…"

"Shh! Hear that?"

Leo stopped to listen. It was very faint, but he could hear the familiar staccato bark of gunfire.

_Sam?_

"Looks like we aren't the only ones alive out there. Let's move it!"

Paccone slammed a fresh clip into his rifle and opened the door. After checking the surroundings, he gave the "all clear" sign and dashed down the street, with Leo close behind.

As they got closer to the sound, Paccone checked his HUD. They were close, since they were already in range to receive the digital information every Marine broadcasted. Leo pressed several buttons on his onboard CPU and saw the information as well.

He read three Marines. CPL. MANN, PVT. SILER, and PVT. LEEDS.

Leo checked the list again, examining the last name even closer.

"You gotta be shitting me!"


	22. Kumi

Author's Note: Heh, I suspected some of you would be confused by that. If you read a bit closer, I made a pretty vague reference to Leeds in the flashback chapter.

Chapter 21: Kumi

**Omega**

Holy was still slightly perplexed at what Karla was doing, but followed her anyway. She seemed determined on finding out something, and Holy respected that. He kept following her until they stopped at what looked like an elevator. Holy watched, with slight amusement, as Karla slapped the control panel next to the door, only to curse when it didn't respond.

"Hey, Holy, I know you Elites are pretty strong, so I'm wondering if-"

"I am far ahead of you, Karla."

Holy crouched down and dug his fingers into the door. With a combination of brute force and friction, Holy managed to lift the door up a few inches. Then he quickly got his fingers under the door to improve his grip, and heaved it up with little apparent effort.

"Man, you just make it look too easy."

Holy smiled and looked through the door, and was correct in his assumption that it was an elevator of some sort.

"Is this-"

"Freight elevator. These things can tell you a lot about a building."

"How so?"

Karla dug several chemical flares out of her belt. She cracked them in half, and they began to glow a bright fluorescent green. She dropped them down the shaft, and saw them go down, hitting the bottom with a distant _thud_. By counting the seconds the flares fell, Karla managed to estimate that the shaft was about ten stories deep.

"Alright, we're done here. Lets go. We've got a survivor to see."

Still confused at what was going through Karla's head, Holy let go of the door and followed.

**Robles**

Paccone peeked over the ridge, and sure enough, saw three Marines and two civilians holed up in a small crater firing at a wave of advancing zombies, unfortunately, most of their fire was unfocused, confused, and overall not very effective in stopping the creatures.

"Carter, you stay back here and give them some support fire!"

"Yes sir!"

Leo immediately went prone and started zeroing in on the nearest targets. He managed to get a closer look at the Marines, and sure enough, Leeds was there. Kumi Leeds. He could tell because of that distinctive red headband she wore on her forehead. It wrapped around her head, under her brown-blonde hair, and was tied together at the back of her head to form two long "tails". She used to best friends with him and Sam when they were kids, but he hadn't seen her since he graduated from high school, and even though he never though for once thought that Kumi would be out of place in the Marines, he just never imagined seeing her _here_.

As Leo put down a withering blanket of covering fire, Paccone, meanwhile, tried to hail the other three Marines on his radio.

"Marines! If you can hear me, tighten up those lanes of fire, and start focusing on one target at a time! Aim for the head, or you'll just be wasting ammo!"

There was no reply, and Paccone almost thought they couldn't hear him until he saw the Marines look up in his direction and start scoring head shots. It looked like they would win this fight, until Paccone caught sight of even more enemies coming in. He primed and threw a grenade at the nearest pack of zombies, blowing them into bits of meat and bone, and punching a hole through the ring of zombies.

"Come on! Quit your pussyfooting and move it!"

The three Marines and two civilians made a dash through the hole, with Paccone and Leo giving them covering fire.

"Fall back! Follow me!"

Minutes later, Leo was catching his breath in a curiously familiar surplus store. One of the Marines, Cpl. Mann, walked up and saluted Paccone.

"Thank you for assisting us sir! We wouldn't have been able to get out there if it wasn't for you!"

Paccone waved off the comment and got straight to the questions.

"Alright, the first thing I want to know is who the hell you all are, since in our briefing, we had reports that there was no UNSC presence in this town."

"Well, they were right sir. We got stranded here after our Pelican crashed."

Paccone raised his eyebrow.

"Crashed? How?"

"Like you, we were out doing recon in the forest, got jumped by those things, and we hightailed it out of there, but they took a pretty big piece of our Pelican before we could get away."

"I see…"

"When we got out, it was obvious whatever was in the forest also got to the town. We found several civilians who survived the initial attack, but I'm afraid the two we've got here are the only ones left."

Meanwhile, on the other end of the store, Leo sat on an old ammo crate and began to acquaint himself with a very old friend.

"Jesus Kumi, it's been like what, years?"

Kumi smiled as she recognized Leo's familiar, boyish voice.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Jeez, I just never I thought I would see you here! What the heck have you been doing?"

"Well, I went to take an Engineering course in a university at Reach, but…"

"I don't like the sound of that."

"But I got kicked out after I found that blowing things up was _far_ more interesting than putting them together."

"Figures. What'd you do after?"

"Well, then my parents enrolled me in med school. Thought that it would get rid of my 'destructive' tendencies. Boy, were they wrong, but at least I actually managed to graduate."

"Wait, you mean to tell me-"

"Yep. Combat Medic Leeds, fully certified to cut you open and weld you shut again."

"If I ever get wounded on the battlefield, I'd much rather just die."

"Ha ha, very funny. You know, with modern medicine and all, I can graft several ounces of C12 plastic explosive onto one of your organs and you'd never notice a thing."

"You know, the thing about you that scares me is that I'm never sure whether you're serious or not."

"Alright ladies, listen up!"

Both Marines looked up to see Paccone picking up to submachine guns and putting them into special holsters on his belt.

"Currently, there is a dropship several kilometers from here, with hot food, nice blankets, and an in flight movie waiting for us in the landing pad. Unfortunately, we've got no ride, so we're going to have to hot foot it until we find one. That means, weapons and ammo only, and make sure you bring plenty of it!"

He punctuated his last sentence by slinging a bandoleer of battle rifle clips around himself.

"Any questions?"

**Somewhere else in Robles**

Sam sighed in frustration as the Warthog gave one final, dying gasp, and fell silent. She tried the ignition several times, but the engine wouldn't start.

"Damn, the thing's dead."

"And it won't be the only one."

Sam's heart nearly stopped at the presence of the new voice. She tried to turn to see what was behind her, but she felt herself planted to the spot.

"C-Colette…?"

She could only hear malicious laughter behind her.

"Hmmm, you mean to tell me there was a second with you? No worry, I shall find them. But first, what shall I do with you…"


	23. Bad to Worse

Author's Note: Ahhh, some of you would be wondering why it took me so long to update, well, it was Christmas, and I got two new games, which pretty much consumed all of my free time. They still do, actually, but that's beside the point.

Chapter 22: Bad to Worse

**Robles**

"All clear."

Paccone nodded, and the rest of the motley group of Marines and civilians scrambled out of the abandoned building they were hiding and made a dash for the next one down the street. Though slow going and time consuming, it was the best way to avoid the ambush tactics that the zombies had seemingly mastered. Also, they were getting close to the landing pad anyways.

Leo reached the building first, did a quick check of the interior through the windows, and gave the "all clear" signal. Paccone opened the door, and Mann and Kumi moved in, covering the flanks while Siler went right down the middle. The two civilians, who had yet to reveal their names, followed close behind. After a quick spot check, Mann shouted, "Clear!"

From the interior, Kumi responded, "Clear!"

And finally, Siler came last with another, "Clear!"

Paccone and Leo both scanned the street, and, after making sure there were no immediate threats outside, backed into the building and closed the door.

As it turned out, they ended up a funeral home. Leo was about to make a limp joke about the irony of their situation when Paccone suddenly snapped to attention.

"Quiet. I think I hear something."

They all went silent, and strained to hear any noise out of the ordinary. It was faint, but it was there. It sounded like someone moaning in pain or sorrow, and it was coming from…

"The basement." Said Paccone.

**Omega**

Before he knew it, Holy and Karla were back in the garage area, where the other Marines had placed the sole surviving scientist, who was still unconscious. Karla quickly walked over to the scientist, knelt down close to his face, and began to smack it lightly until he began to wake up. The scientist moaned a little and slowly got up. Seeing that he was conscious, Karla asked him in a very flat voice, "Okay, now that I've got your attention, who the hell are you and what just happened back there?"

The scientist, however, regained only his consciousness and not his nerve. He started screaming and blubber again. Karla shook her head and stood up.

"We're not going to get anything out of this guy." She glanced over and thought about her next move. "Okay. Richards, you and first squad stay up here and hold the fort." She nodded in the direction of the scientist, "and try to get anything you can out of that guy." Karla then turned around and started check her rifle. "Meanwhile, I'm taking second squad down to check out those sublevels. For some reason, there's more of them than the blueprints say, and I suspect we can find the other survivor down there-"

Williams then cut in: "Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute there, Cap. _Other_ survivor? I though we found him already?"

First Lieutenant Tarin Richards then replied, "The guy we found here was locked in the freezer for God knows how long, and we only heard that comm message half an hour ago. I doubt this guy here could get out of the freezer and make a call, much less talk in a coherent sentence."

"Oh yeah." Williams muttered, with an abashed expression on his face.

Karla smiled at the little exchange. Tarin Richards was Karla's replacement as CO of 2nd Platoon. She was fairly thin, with average height and long brown hair. Her face showed little, if any, emotion, and it was always kept under a mask of seriousness. Karla thought that if the girl would brighten up her expression and show a little feeling once in a while, she would look quite attractive, though it was really her eyes that caught Karla's attention. The deep and unwavering intensity of them suggested great intelligence and initiative inside, if only she would get the nerve to show it. Karla seriously hoped her replacement would, since it would be such a waste for a girl like that to spend the rest of her Marine career as a platoon leader.

Karla went off in the direction of the elevators, and Holy and 2nd squad followed deeper into the bowels of the Omega Installation.

**Robles**

"Damnit!" Kumi cursed as she stumbled into knee deep water.

"Watch your step there, Marine." Muttered Paccone as he surveyed the basement. He strained his ears again and pinpointed the faint sound.

"Carter, get a light over there" He pointed over to the left of the basement.

Leo nodded and pointed his rifle in that direction. The rifle's flashlight illuminated a small, raised concrete platform that was just above the water level. On it, it looked as if a severely wounded man was lying there.

Paccone quickly motioned for Leo and Kumi to follow him, and rushed over to the wounded man.

The man rolled over and gurgled, "N-no! Get out of here!" He tried to wave them away, but winced in pain instead, "Me and my friends tried to hide in here from those things… but we had no idea the entire place was infested with them!"

Leo suddenly realized that this place was no longer safe anymore.

"Sarge, maybe we should-"

But before he could finish his sentence, a zombie burst out of the water behindhim and tackled him. Leo felt himself falling forward, and ended up pinned facedown in the water. Leo began to panic and struggle. If the zombie didn't kill him, the water would.

**Just under one kilometer away…**

Once again, Sam found herself lying against a wall, badly wounded, and constantly flitting in and out of consciousness. She didn't have anything to treat the massive wound on her left shoulder, but she didn't really want to anyways. Just the sight of it usually caused her to faint again.

So she merely sat there, hoping for somebody, anybody, to come.


	24. Near Death Experience

AU: I'll have to give credit to EA for making some of the drill sergeant's quotes, because they are so unbelievably awesome.

Chapter 23: Near Death Experience

There's a funny thing about death. "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome." They say that when you're about to die, you can see your life flash before your eyes in an instant, or get a glimpse of heaven. At least, that's what the people who survive these experiences say, though nobody ever knows exactly what they will see when Death comes to knock on your doorstep.

**Boot Camp**

"Get up, maggots! This ain't your beauty sleep!"

The twelve recruits all bolted out of their beds, hastily shirking on their uniforms as the Marine drill sergeant barged into the barracks, shouting orders left and right.

"Move it, maggots! No one's getting paid by the hour here! You call that dressed? I think that looks like crap! Put them on _properly_ or I will not hesitate to kick your chubby ass back to Earth!"

The recruits quickly dressed, cleaned up their cots, and stood at attention, ready for the sergeant's daily inspection.

**Robles**

"Son of a bitch!" Paccone yelled as he backed away from a pair of zombies closing in on him. He made his way over to the wounded civilian and started firing. Both enemies took hits and fell into the water with a loud _splash_. Kumi, meanwhile, gave the zombie that was on top of Leo a hearty smack in the head with the butt of her rifle. She could feel the creature's skull cave in to the force of her attack, and the zombie dropped into the water like a lifeless doll.

Just as quickly, Siler and Mann sped down the stairs, rifles raised and ready. They made quick work of the remaining zombies, who went up in puffs of coagulated blood. Kumi frantically thrashed through the water trying to find Leo.

**Boot Camp**

"Now." Said the drill sergeant. "You raw recruits think you have what it takes to be a Marine, don't you?"

One of the recruits made a mistake by answering, "Yes sir!"

The drill sergeant was on her like tiger leaping for the kill.

"Did I tell you to talk, maggot?"

"No sir, I just assumed you wanted us to answer the question." She said, with a hint of smugness in her voice.

"Oh, so we've got a smart girl here, huh? Lets see how you like KP duty for the next two weeks!"

**Robles**

Leo thought he was going to die. He didn't really expect it, but he felt disappointment. When he first joined the Marines, he really thought he would've met his end on the front lines or on some patrol in a firefight against the Covenant, not in some flooded basement by a person who didn't know when to die. Visions and memories crept into his head, and things that he wouldn't have given a second thought suddenly became crystal clear in his head. Suddenly, instead of being pushed down, something started to pull him _up_, out of the water.

Paccone yanked Leo out of the water with one hand a yelled, "You don't die until I tell you, Marine! Is that clear?"

Leo coughed and vomited some water. He managed to nod weakly.

"Good." Paccone said as he turned around. "Leeds, what's his condition?"

Kumi, meanwhile, was checking the wounded civilian, and trying to stop the bleeding from his wounds. She took out a bandage from her pack and replied, "Not too bad, sir. Mostly just cuts and scratches, but he should make it."

Leo finally managed to conjure the strength to stand up. He staggered a little, and leaned against the wall for support. "Jeez… hey Kumi!" He called out.

Kumi turned from her work. "Yeah?" She replied curiously.

"You got anything that for severe headaches?"

Kumi huffed and turned back to the wounded man she was working on. "I'm a medic, not your pediatrician. Why would you need that stuff anyways?"

Leo rubbed his head in pain and replied, "Because I can't get my stupid drill sergeant's voice out of my head…"

**Boot Camp**

"Now…" The drill sergeant began to pace back and forth along the barracks aisle. "Everything has to have a story, and so does the Marine Corps." He kept walking down the aisle and stopped.

"In the beginning, there was only darkness, until God said 'Let there be light!', and he then created heaven and earth." He continued pacing the aisle, while all the recruits still stood at attention.

"He then created the land, the sky, and the sea. And on each, he put down the animals." He turned and started pacing the other way, giving the recruits a harsh stare. "In the sea, he made the Navy, with their fancy ships and their too-tight uniforms. In the air, he made the Air Force, with their jackets fluffy and ruffled. And on the land, he made the Army, with pants too long and shorts too short. Then, on the seventh day, he rested."

Finally, the sergeant stopped at the door of the barracks and looked down the recruits again, "But on the _eighth_ day, God looked down, and _he was not happy_! So then he created the _Marines_, who could fight on land, sea, AND air! They had combat-practical uniforms, and dress uniforms so they could go out at night with the ladies! But God was still not happy, because he realized he did not have a Marine uniform, but he took comfort in the fact that _not everybody can be a Marine_!"

The sergeant then raised his voice, as to get the attention of the recruits. " But I _am_ a Marine, so that makes me one level above God! That means I tell you to jump, you say 'how high', and when I tell you to run, by God, I want you to say 'how far'. Got that?"

This time, all of the recruits stood there, silent and at attention.

"Good! I expect to see you outside and ready for training! _Now_, would be a good time!"

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to piss off God, would we?" One of the recruits muttered to herself.


	25. Deeper Down

Chapter 24: Deeper Down

Omega 

After having Holy heave the elevator doors up again, Karla and 2nd squad attached ropes and harnesses to themselves. Because the base was running on minimal power, the elevators were nonfunctional, so they had to rappel down the elevator shaft.

"Which floor?" One of the Marines asked.

"The deepest." Replied Karla, "That's where they tend to keep all of the most sensitive stuff."

Then, she, the Elite, and the twelve other Marines dropped down into the darkness awaiting them.

Robles 

"Clear." Leo said as he looked down the street. "Lets go."

Leo, with rifle raised, moved swiftly down the street. Paccone, the civilians, Siler, and Mann followed close behind. Kumi was last, helping the injured civilian they had found.

"Hey Kumi," Leo called, "How's the guy doing?"

Kumi was half carrying, half dragging the injured man along, and frowned. "Not too well. Until we can get this guy into a decent aid station, I don't know if he's going to make it or not."

True to her words, the man seemed to be extremely pale, and was constantly shivering and twitching. Despite his symptoms, he still found the strength to move, though it seemed as if he had lost the ability to speak.

"Don't worry, it's not that far now."

Paccone smiled. "Yeah, the only thing that can go wrong now is if that dirtbag pilot chickens out on us."

"Uhhh, sir?" Leo said. "About that…"

"What?" Paccone ran up to where Leo was, looked at the pad and shouted, "Sons of bitches! They left us behind!"

Where the Pelican was supposed to be was just empty concrete.

"Maybe they just went off to find help." Siler suggested.

"In any case," Paccone glanced over at the injured man, "Any sort of rescue party won't be here for hours. So we're basically on our own."

Then, as if in response, there was a loud, collective groaning sound on the other end of the landing pad, though the fog obscured anything that could've been standing there.

"I suggest we find cover quickly then." Said Leo.

"Good idea."

Omega 

The bottom level of Omega was not quite as inviting as the top one. Blood was spattered along the walls, and there were blood trails all over the floor, suggesting bodies had been dragged around and moved. Along the length of the hallway were numbered doors, though all of them were opened. Holy peeked into one of the rooms, checked the one across it, and then moved farther down the hall to check another room.

"They are all exactly the same." He called out.

One of the Marines said, "So these were either rooms…"

Karla finished the sentence. "…or cells."

There was a collective clicking sound as safeties were turned off.

"Lets go, Marines. There's more to check out." Karla said as she crept farther down the hall.

The rest of the squad was reluctant to follow.

Robles 

"You carry him, Kumi. You're the medic."

Kumi pouted. "I've been carrying him for a half-hour already. All you did was take point."

"Trust me Kumi," Leo sighed, "taking point is something you really wouldn't like to do. Besides, I don't even know what half the stuff in that damn UNSC medpack does."

Kumi was about to start on a retort when Paccone cut her off.

"Quit whining, Marine," Paccone grunted as he scanned the area where the groaning noises were coming from, "be glad that you're not taking point. I've seen a lot of good men die that way."

"Then what do we do now, sir?" Kumi sounded more anxious, agitated. It sounded as if being stuck in this town was beginning to get at her. "We're stuck in the middle of zombie-fucking-central, with no support, and now way out!"

Paccone looked at her, keenly aware of the edge building in her voice. "We still have a narrow chance. A few months ago, a previous squad left behind a SATCOM relay. Maybe it's still here."

"Or maybe the locals pulled it apart and trashed it." Mann interjected.

"Or maybe they kept it around for situations like these." Paccone glared at Mann. "I seriously doubt these yokels are dumb enough to destroy a piece of UNSC equipment like that." He glanced at Leo and Kumi. "No offense."

They both replied. "None taken."

"Anyways," Paccone continued, "The relay was last seen at the town's radio station, at the south end, where things get really hilly, and its not hat far either. I suggest that's the first place to look."

There was sudden skittering sound. Paccone stopped and looked up. The other Marines did so as well. The sound was coming from the rooftops and walls around them, but the fog hid anything that might've been there.

Finally, one of the civilians spoke up and muttered, "What the hell is that?"

Unfortunately, that outburst turned out to be a fatal one. Out of the fog, three shapes suddenly leapt from the fog with unimaginable speed and ferocity and piled on top of the man. He didn't even have enough time to scream before they tore him to shreds.

Mann screamed, "Holy shit!" and started firing his battle rifle. The other civilian joined in with several shotgun rounds. Two of the ghouls shrieked and fell over, dead. The third leapt away from the fire, landed on the roof of a nearby building, and bounded away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Several more moments passed, and Leo finally asked, "Is that it?"

More shrieking emanated from the fog.

"Looks like that things got friends!" Paccone yelled. "Lets move it!" He picked up the inured civilian, slung him over his shoulders, and started carrying him away. The rest of the group began to follow him.

Then, there was a soft whisper, almost inaudible, but Leo managed to catch it. "_Leo…_"

Leo skidded to halt, and Kumi, who was right behind him, nearly smashed into his back.

"What the hell are you doing!" She screamed. "Those things are right behind us!"

Both Marines turned to see a wrecked Warthog and a Marine leaning against the wall. It took a few seconds, but realization suddenly dawned on Leo.

"_SAM!_"


	26. Something Always Goes Wrong

AU: Argh, I know it's been a very, VERY long time since I've updated, but school and fiendish video games have kept me from writing. Here's to hoping I can get this thing back on track!

Chapter 25: Something Always Goes Wrong

**Robles**

Leo rushed over and knelt down next to his injured friend. Sam was in seriously bad shape. Whoever, _whatever_, attacked her had mauled her pretty badly. There were bruises and cuts all over her body, and there was a gaping wound in her left shoulder, which looked as if something tried to bite her entire arm off. Her skin was as pale as a sheet, but she still seemed alert, and quite lucid.

"About damn time Leo, I was… waiting for you…" she muttered faintly.

Leo told her to stay quiet, and checked her wounds. Fortunately, Kumi was with him, and she immediately went to work.

"Carter! Leeds!" Paccone shouted, "Pick up the pace! They're getting closer!"

Paccone then handed off the wounded civilian he was carrying to Mann, shouted some orders, and took out his submachine guns. Mann took the civilian and began making his way south. Paccone rushed over to Leo and Kumi's position, with Siler following up close behind.

Meanwhile, Kumi had already sprayed Sam's wound with biofoam, and covered it up with a fibrin bandage, which stopped the bleeding almost instantaneously. She was in the middle of administering a stimulant to spike Sam's blood pressure when a voice spoke up behind Leo.

"Is she going to be okay?"

Leo straightened up in surprise and as if by reflex, whipped around with his battle rifle drawn. He suddenly realized, however, that it was just a girl. He sighed in relief and lower his weapon. Strangely enough, the girl didn't seem phased at the sight of a jumpy Marine pointing a loaded weapon at her. She just continued to stare at Sam.

"She doesn't look too well." Said the girl.

Leo watched as Kumi helped Sam up and said, "She'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

The girl looked back at Leo, and said, "Do you really think so?" The serious tone of her voice unnerved Leo, as if she knew something he didn't.

Suddenly, the air was pierced with shrieks and hoots, and the sounds began to get louder.

"That's it, time's up!" Paccone yelled, "We're outta here!"

**Omega**

Karla and the rest of her squad crept farther down the corridor. They had already cleared the lower levels, and had found nothing to suggest there was anything alive down there. Now, they were two levels up from the cells, in what looked like an administrative branch. Cubicles filled up most of the space, with offices and holo screens simulating windows lining the walls. Like the previous two levels, this one seemed fairly quiet, and besides a few spatters of blood, some flickering lights, broken machinery and piles of paper scattered around, everything seemed fine.

"Alright," She said, "lets spread out and clear those offices. I want everybody in four man teams. Lets go."

The rest of the squad nodded, and each team split off to search different sectors of the room. Karla and Holy moved off to check the northern side of the area.

"What do you believe they were doing down here?" Holy asked curiously, glancing around at the drab surroundings. He was unused to the stark and utilitarian look of a human office complex, having lived in the massive and glorious halls of the Prophets.

"Could've been anything." Karla said coolly, "Probably researching the next generation nuke, or just looking to see whether Marine uniforms are machine washable."

Nearing an office, Karla readied her battle rifle, cueing Holy to do the same, and she kicked the door. Inside, the office was empty, with the exception of a dead man sitting in a chair behind a desk in the middle of the office. Karla held her breath and leaned forward to take a closer look. Judging from his clothes, the dead man looked to be a manager, or even the administrator of the complex. Not to mention that the body had several days's worth of decay on it. Karla turned away from the sight, and saw a pile of documents scattered on the desk. She picked one up and examined it.

**TO: HEAD ADMINSTRATOR JENNINGS, ONI OMEGA COMPLEX IV**

**FROM: OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE: SECTION THREE**

**DATE: FEBRUARY 16, 2549**

**FURTHER ANALYSIS OF THE VIABILITY OF THE V2 PROJECT COMPLETE. PROJECT CONSIDERED TOO UNECONOMICAL AND UNSTABLE FOR PRACTICAL USE. AS OF TODAY, V2 PROJECT IS OFFICIALLY CANCELLED. ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO REPORT TO THE HUMAN RESOURCES DEPT. FOR REASSIGNMENT. ALL EQUIPMENT AND RESOURCES BE SHUT DOWN AND PACKAGED. ALL SENSITIVE DOCUMENTS AND RESEARCH ARE TO BE SENT DIRECTLY TO SECTION THREE AND ALL COPIES DESTROYED.**

Karla frowned at the date. According to the memo, it was at least fifty years old. She checked and rechecked the date. It seemed genuine enough, but Karla picked up another document just to make sure.

**TO: HEAD ADMINSTRATOR KERNS, ONI OMEGA COMLEX IV**

**FROM: OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE: SECTION THREE**

**DATE: JUNE 4, 2540**

**CURRENT V2 PROJECT NOW REVOKED. V2 PROJECT NOW OPERATIONAL AGAIN. ALL RESEARCH, PERSONNEL, AND EQUIPMENT ARE TO BE OBTAINED AND GATHERED. PROJECT NOW FULLY FUNDED AND ON ACCELERATED DEADLINE.**

Well, she thought, this one was more recent. Around the time where the Human-Covenant war was heating up. Whatever this V2 project was, it had enough pull to get ONI to exhume it from its red-tape coffin and give full funding. She was hardly surprised, however. It was at this point things were going straight downhill for the UNSC, and the heads in charge were desperately looking for anything that could give them an edge over their technologically superior enemy-

Suddenly, Karla's thoughts were shattered by the sound of gunfire from the other side of the complex. She and Holy turned around and ran off in the direction of the fighting, leaving the pile of documents to flutter down to the ground.


	27. Breaking and Entering

Chapter 26: Breaking and Entering

**Omega**

Karla quickly ran to the source of the gunfire, bent on finding out what was going on. By the time she and Holy got there, however, all they found were four Marines, one shaken very badly, and a dead body. From the dress, it looked as if the person used to be an office worker.

"Marine!" She yelled, angry at seeing a dead civilian, "Report!"

The Marine noticeably cringed under her voice, and replied, "I tried calm him down, ma'am, but he just kept coming at me! He kept coming, moving forward and trying to bite me!"

"I had to shoot him." One of the other Marines added, nodding to the body, "But he was a tough little bastard. Took a full magazine before he stayed down."

Karla took one more glance at the scene and turned to Holy and said, "Take care of the body, Holy. I don't want him just sitting herein the middle of the isle." She then turned to the four Marines and said, "And I want you four to get back to searching. And if you do find any survivors, please call for help before you decide to shoot them."

The four Marines nodded, and with a quick, "Yes, ma'am!" They quickly took off down the isle. Karla then turned on her radio and checked on the status of her other teams.

"This is team two, nothing yet."

"Team three here, I think we've got something you might want to see, Captain."

**Robles **

_"It appears that things are not turning out in your favor."_ Said a strange, oddly disembodied voice.

"_Patience," _replied a second, similar being, _"Humans can be…unpredictable… at times."_

"_Well, you must hope that they act in your favor quickly," _The first being retorted, _"or the consequences will be quite severe."_

"_I know what is at stake here. They will pull through."_

With that, both of the ghostly figures dissipated into the air.

Meanwhile, like the odd beings had mentioned, things were not going well for the group of Marines stranded in Robles. They had managed to reach the radio station, but were unable to find a route inside. It appeared as if a previous group of people had barricaded themselves inside building. Every door and window was blocked or boarded up, denying access to anybody with even a thought of entering.

"Crap," Leo muttered, "how are we supposed to get in?" He looked nervously at Paccone, hoping that he would have an answer.

"And we better hurry," Kumi added, "the wounded aren't doing too well."

True to her words, the wounded civilian and Sam were in bad shape. The civilian, who had deep gash in his side, was unconscious, but the expression on his face suggested he was in severe pain. Sam, on the other hand, had a wound on her shoulder that looked as if something tried to bite her entire arm off. Kumi had managed to bandage the wound and stop the bleeding, but Sam still looked somewhat pale and dazed, though she was still lucid enough to follow orders and move unsupported.

"Why don't we just blow the door down? We've got explosives." Said Siler.

"If we blow the door down," Paccone said calmly, "then there won't be anything to keep the zombies _out_."

"Good point, sir." Siler said, abashed.

"Who's that? Who's out there?"

The Marines turned around in surprise. They hadn't come from any of them. It instead was coming from _inside_ the door.

"Who's in there?" Paccone snapped.

"Why is your business? Just go away and leave us alone!"

"Let us in!" cried Mann, slowly inching toward the door, "We're Marines!"

Suddenly, there was a loud BANG! Mann fell backwards, gazing at a hole several inches in diameter in the door. There was an audible _click_ and the clattering on a shotgun shell on the floor. The voice then spoke up again.

"Bullshit! I'm not going to fall for a cheap trick like that! You're just like all of the rest who came in!"

"The rest?" Leo eyed the others nervously. "What exactly _happened_ to the rest?"

"The bastards all turned into those… those _things_ out there!" The voice replied hotly. "I'll be damned if I let _you_ in!"

There was more sharp clicking, indicating that the man was reloading his shotgun. Leo looked over to Paccone, who silently pointed to the door and mouthed, _On three_. Leo immediately understood the message and readied himself. Kumi and the other Marines backed off to clear the way. Leo looked at Paccone again, who raised three fingers.

_Three…_

"You better stay back! I've got enough ammo here to blow you back to the Stone Age ten times over!"

_Two…_

"Do you hear me? I'll kill anybody who tries to get in!"

_One._

In a blinding flash of speed, both Leo and Paccone rushed the door. Paccone slammed into the door with his entire body, crushing the wooden planks that were hastily nailed over the door, and bashed the door in. Leo quickly ran in, tackled a dark silhouette, and pointed his pistol at what he believed was the head. Paccone, meanwhile, brushed wood splinters off his armor, rushed over to Leo, and kicked away the fallen shotgun.

"Holy shit!" The figure sputtered, "You guys really _are_ Marines!"

"You're damn right." Paccone said triumphantly. He then bent down and added, "And now you will tell use what the hell is going on in here, or I will let Private Carter do whatever the hell he wants with you. And let me tell you, if you thought those zombies out there were bad, then you haven't messed with a Marine yet, because we are twenty times worse than what they can possibly do."

Leo grinned malevolently and cocked his pistol. He felt a perverse feeling of glee as he saw the person's eyes bulge from his head. He was evidently scared shitless of what might happen to him.

"All right! All right! Just don't hurt me!" he cried, defeated.

"I suggest you start talking, then."

"Alright." The man looked around, and said quietly, "but not here. Follow me."

Leo and Paccone looked at each other. Leo merely shrugged, and Paccone motioned for Kumi, Sam, and the other Marines to come on in.


	28. Weapons of Mass Destruction

**To kane**: Just because you can talk, doesn't make you a Marine. Besides, the guy had several very good reasons to be suspicious of who might be on the other side…

Chapter 27: Weapons of Mass Destruction

**Omega**

Karla walked into what seemed to be a data-room. Old computers lined the walls, while several Marines stood guard around and inside the room. She looked over and saw Williams, leaning against a computer console, playing what seemed to be a crude version of Pong. Karla shook her head at the thought of one of her Marines wasting time like this.

"Williams!"

Startled, Williams bolted out of his chair and hastily saluted. "Captain!"

Karla narrowed her eyes and asked, "I suppose you didn't called me over to show me your new high score."

"Ummm, no ma'am." Williams stammered. "We found something that looked like a journal or data log. Jacobs is going over it right now, says that there's some interesting stuff you ought to know about this place." He motioned over to an adjacent room, where Private Jacobs was reading through lines of text on another computer.

Karla walked over to the other room and walked up behind Jacobs. The private turned and saluted her. Karla returned the salute and said, "Report, private."

"Yes, ma'am." Jacobs turned back to the screen and began scrolling through text again. "Well, this place was built as a research lab, with a lot of black projects going on down here."

"Obviously."

"Anyways," continued Jacobs, "about 50 years ago, the scientists here were working on some sort of project, based on even earlier research dating back to the 20th century. Something called the T-Virus or whatever."

"T-virus?" Karla pondered. Bio-warefare was not an impossibility, especially in these war-torn times.

"Yeah, really weird stuff. Originally, it they were trying to use it as a medical application. You know, before bio-foam was invented, and when flash-cloning wasn't perfect. Anyways, they tried to make it work, but found some 'unexpected' side effects."

"Side effects?"

"Well, the stuff they were making, they called it Project U, showed remarkable cell regeneration, so they moved straight to testing on live subjects."

"And?"

"Well…" Jacobs paused for a second, "all of the subjects, rather than regenerating their wounds, died."

Karla raised an eyebrow. Now _that_ little fact was interesting in itself. "Anything else?"

"Oddly, the side effects didn't show until _after_ the subjects were dead, and well, I think it'll be better if you see for yourself." Jacobs tapped some keys and brought up another screen.

Karla looked at it, and saw the image was time-stamped fifty years ago. The image showed several lab mice laying on the ground, apparently dead. The image then fast forwarded half and hour, and soon Karla saw the mice get back up again, though their movements were stiff, and instead of showing the characteristic hyperactivity of normal rats, these rats appeared to be suffering from some sort of malaise that kept them from moving fast. Suddenly, the image fast forwarded again, and showed a scientist lowering a healthy rat into the cage, The instant it hit the floor, the other rats immediately pounced on it and started tearing the healthy rat to shreds, and the image blacked out. Karla winced at the sight. "Pretty nasty stuff."

"Yeah." Jacobs tapped several more keys, and the text began scrolling again. "The army saw what this stuff could do, and they immediately switched the project from a civilian joint-venture to a full-scale black military project, and was renamed Project V. I mean, it would be seriously cool to have an Army of the Dead for future wars, right? No worry about casualties, since the soldiers are _already dead_."

"And the fact that the more people killed, the bigger that army gets."

"Yeah, but not in the way that you would expect. Following the specifications of the T-Virus, its pure form can be transmitted by air, but it is mostly spread through fluid or physical contact. If you get bitten or scratched, or somehow exchange bodily fluids with an infected person, you basically eventually become one."

Now _that_ was an extremely disturbing thought.

"Moving on, though, the military eventually cancelled the project. Dismantled all of the equipment, filed away all of the data, split up the scientists, and switched the base's assets to other projects. Most of the personnel running Project V just packed up and left, and left a skeleton crew to keep watch over the place."

Karla snorted. "Cost overruns, I assume"

"Actually, they got scared of their own project." Jacobs grinned sarcastically. "They couldn't find a way to control their specimens. I mean, the dead don't really have much reason to follow the living, right?'

Karla stayed silent.

"Also, like you said, the project didn't seem to be practical to use. The project had its own problems from the get-go. They couldn't find a way to stabilize their specimens. Even though they were reanimated, the zombie-things were still susceptible to death and decay. You know, things like rigor mortis and decomposition. They wouldn't last more than a week or so before falling apart."

Karla looked around the room and said, "Obviously they found a way around that, if they revived the project."

"Yeah, that's the strange thing." Jacobs frowned. "There's only one line of text, and then, the entire thing just cuts off." He motioned towards the screen.

Karla turned to look at the screen and at the bottom, and, like Jacobs said, was one mere line of text.

**Problem solved! Flood DNA strings are the trick! T-2 is a go.**


	29. Phone Home

Chapter 28: Phone Home

**Robles**

The inside of the radio station was a mess. Broken furniture lay everywhere, and the walls and doors were badly damaged. Blood covered the walls and floors, and the glowed weakly and constantly flickered.

"Hell of a place you've got here." Paccone remarked.

"It's not much, but it keeps those damn zombies out."

The man eyed Sam and the injured civilian suspiciously though, as if they were about to turn into zombies at any given moment.

"What's your problem?" Leo asked.

"My problem?" The man glared at Leo. "My problem is, that every injured person we took in turned into one of those fucking zombies!" He pointed to Sam and the civilian.

Paccone and Leo glanced at each other, unsure whether to believe this man or not.

"Understand that we don't agree with you." Paccone grunted.

"Your funeral." Muttered the other man.

"Now, we were here for the satcom. I believe you know what it is. A small communication console-"

"I know what it is." The man said. "We tried using it, but it didn't work."

"That's why we have clearance codes. Keeps anyone from making prank calls."

**Omega **

"That's it." Karla said, standing up. "We're getting out of here. All teams, get back to the elevator."

After hearing everybody's acknowledgements, Karla and Jacobs both made their way out the door. As they moved down the hall however, Karla caught something moving off at the side. She turned to see what it was, Karla was surprised to see somebody standing there. She relaxed a little, which turned out to be a big mistake, when she noticed that half the person's face was missing.

The thing groaned loudly and swung a huge, meaty arm with inhuman strength. Karla was knocked off her feet, and her rifle was sent clattering across the floor. Jacobs, meanwhile, didn't notice as he was trying to hold off two more of the things. Karla scrambled back to her feet, pulled out her pistol, and fired at the oncoming figure. The thing flinched as the rounds hit it square in the chest, but remained standing. Karla backed off in surprise, in too much shock to even try and reload her pistol. All she could think of was this undead creature inching slowly toward her…

**Robles**

"Well?" Leo asked.

"Shut it, Leo." Said Kumi as she tried to work the satcom, "these things aren't exactly like radios. You can't just press a button magically talk to a ship."

"Yeah, well someone should make one like that." Leo complained.

"Can you please be quiet Leo? Your shouting is giving me a freaking headache." Sam moaned as she checked her bandages.

Kumi momentarily lifted her head from the satcom. "You okay, Sam? I thought I told you to take those pills I gave you."

"I did," said Sam, "but they don't seem to be working very well, not well at all."

Kumi shook her head and went back to trying to work the satcom. It probably would've been easier if Paccone were here, but he was out with Siler and Mann patrolling the hallways. The other guy, who hadn't bothered to give them his name, retreated back to where he and the other survivors, about thirty of them, were holed up. And that strange girl Colette was at Sam's side, asleep on her shoulder. Kumi wasn't quite sure why, but that girl just gave her the creeps.

"Are you finished yet?"

"_No_, Leo. And if you ask that question again, I'm going to rip your fucking skull out and beat you to death with it."

**UNSC destroyer _Valiant _**

Ensign Walter Ryan sighed as he sat at the communications console. So far, it had been a routine day on the _Valiant_There was the occasional Covenant ship that flickered in and out of the edges of the system, and a few pesky Seraph fighters that had to be chased away, but basically, nothing was happening. Suddenly, the satcom buzzed to life.

"This is Marine Unit One, is there anybody out there? Repeat, this is Marine Unit One, does anybody read?"

"Marine Unit One," Ryan answered back, quickly sitting back up in his chair, "This is the _Valiant_. We read your signal loud and clear."

"Thank God, we've been trying to work this damn thing all day!"

Ryan ignored the statement. Those damn Marines could never get anything right. He suspected this was some sort of prank call they were cooking up. "Marine Unit One, what is your current situation?"

"Situation is FUBAR down here, I repeat, situation is FUBAR. We need reinforcements and air support down here ASAP."

Ryan checked the signal, and noticed it was originating from Robles, one of the larger towns on the planet's surface. Unfortunately, Ryan had no idea what FUBAR meant. Damn the Marines and their jargon.

"I need you to clarify that statement a little more." Ryan replied through the comm.

"Uhhh, It's kind of hard to explain here, and frankly, I don't think you'll believe me if I tell you."

Ryan sighed. Two years in the communications chair, and this was the strangest call he had ever received. He keyed the comm. And answered, "A data disk or file would be fine. Just insert it into the side of the satcom and press the TRANSMIT button."

The comm was silent for a few minutes, until the voice finally came back.

"Alright, transmitting."

Ryan glanced over at his console and saw that a file was in fact being transferred. He opened it and looked through the contents. The things he saw in that file were things that would make even Helljumpers gag. He quickly closed the file and called for the captain to get to the bridge as soon as possible.


	30. Deliverance

Chapter 29: Deliverance

**UNSC Destroyer _Valiant_**

"My God." Captain Rogers stared out of the bridge viewport overlooking the planet of Aeola. He had just been briefed on what has been going on down on the surface during the last several hours. "Do you think this is some sort of Covenant weapon?"

"Possible, but unlikely, sir." Rogers' second in command, Commander Rick Starr, stepped forward. "I have no doubts that the Covenant posses the technology to create lifeforms like these, but taking into account their already superior weapons technology and their arrogance, It's unlikely that the Covenant will be willing to stoop this low to destroy us."

Rogers nodded. "You think its one of ours?"

"What, sir?"

Rogers sighed, and stared at the planet again. "It's no secret that the UNSC and ONI keep multiple research stations down there, working on 'black' projects. And don't try and pretend you don't know. We've been on this ship for seven years, and you're one of the brightest and best commanders I've ever had."

"Yes sir." Starr nodded. "It's possible that one of those stations down there suffered an accident, or worse, went rogue. Unfortunately, ONI keeps no data of these facilities on the datanets, nor do they even mark them on the maps. Hell, the facilities aren't even allowed to contact anybody in the 'outside' for any reason whatsoever. For all we know, anything can be going on down there." Starr kept standing in his position, waiting for Rogers to reply, and began to fidget nervously a little.

"All right, now we need to do something about those Marines stranded down in… what was it called?"

"Robles, sir."

"Robles. Are there any reinforcements that we can spare to them?"

"No sir." Starr frowned as he started sifting through data streams. Most of our Marine units are tied up on offensives all across the continent, and whatever we've got left is protecting the high-value cities and refugees. And don't even ask about air support, because they're all tied up as well."

"Damnit!" Rogers cursed, slamming his fist down on the desk, "we can't let those Marines down there die while we sit back and twiddle our thumbs! Can't we give them any supplies or equipment that might give them an edge."

"That's about the only thing we don't have a shortage on." Starr replied. "We have plenty of weapons stocked aboard the ship, one of the 'X' weapons we never got around to testing, and of course," Starr gestured around the bridge, "We have this ship."

**Robles**

"Unbelievable" Paccone muttered as he tore off the SATCOM headset, "instead of sending a Pelican to get us of this rock, they send us even MORE weapons. I suppose Navy goons plan on us taking this town by ourselves."

"Isn't that the Marine way?" Leo interjected.

Paccone smirked. "You're damn right it is."

"Sir," Kumi turned around from the window she was watching out of, "If they don't have any Pelicans left, how are they sending us the equipment?"

"The old fashioned way. Stuffing it all in a crate and dropping it down. It'll come down within a two kilometer radius of this station.

As if to reinforce his words, a bright flare shot through the sky, and slammed into the ground several hundred yards away from the station with a resounding _BOOM_ as the drop pod demolished a building that had the misfortune of being in its way.

Paccone rubbed his hands together and got up, "Alright, Marines, lets do this! Carter, Mann, with me! Siler, Leeds, you stay behind with these kind folks and hold the fort."

The Marines nodded and set about to do their tasks. Leo and Mann began loading up their rifles while Kumi and Siler continued to keep a watch on the door.

**Omega**

Without thinking, Karla dropped her useless pistol and drew her Marine combat knife. She didn't really see the point of using it since these things were apparently impervious to bullets, but it was better than just laying down to die. She heard a scream, and say Riley get pulled down by a mob of the zombies. He was thrashing and kicking as the zombies began scratching at his eyes and skin, and began to literally tear him to pieces. Karla fought to keep herself from puking. She definitely didn't want that to happen to her.

The first zombie then lunged at her, growling and shrieking. Karla sidestepped to the left and evaded the attacker. She brought her knife around and then stabbed it into the back of the zombie's neck, severing its spine. The creature gasped and fell to the floor. Karla stared at her bloody knife and the dead body, until it suddenly hit her. _Of course, that's how they can be killed…_

Suddenly, the mob that attacked Riley was finished ripping him apart, and then set their sights on Karla. She began backing away, and saw that she could try and move around the mob and reach her fellow comrades. She moved back more until she could find a side passage.

As she backed up, a heavy weight landed on her back, sending her slamming into the floor. Momentarily dazed, Karla tried to get back up, only to notice that the weight was still there. She caught the horrid stench of rot, and a growling that sounded like rotten wood. Two decayed, but powerful hands grabbed her helmet and tore it off. Karla tried fighting the zombie off, but the position that she was laying in limited her movement, and from the sounds of it, she was being pinned by more than one zombie. Then, those same decayed hands grabbed the back of her head and began lifting it up. Karla bit back the urge to scream and closed her eyes. She always thought that if she were to die it battle, it would be against the Covenant, not these slimy bastards…

Suddenly, she felt a wave of unbearable heat, and the weight on her back disappeared. Karla opened her eyes to find that she was covered in blood. She stood up, and noticed that the dead weight on back was a pile of fried body parts, rather than actual living thing. Stunned and dazed from the attack, she looked up in front of her and saw a the back of a massive Elite holding a plasma sword, several feet of pure destructive energy focused into a lethal blade. It was standing between her and the mob of zombies.

"Holy?"

The Elite turned around and gave one of his genuine, predatory smiles. "These abominations of nature do not deserve to walk this world. I intend to correct that."

"Where the hell did you get that sword?"

"Maybe I'll tell you some other day," laughed Holy. He then turned towards the zombies, raised his plasma sword in the air, and roared. "Come, foul demons! Come and know death in the name of Ralamee!"

Then, in a scene reminiscent of a hero in an action movie, Holy charged the mob of oncoming zombies, plasma sword raised, screaming a Covenant battle cry.


	31. Gittering Prizes

Chapter 30: Glittering Prizes

**Robles**

"Hurry up and pop open that pod." Paccone said urgently. "The zombies aren't here yet, but I don't want to push my luck."

"Working on it, sir!" said Mann as he started entering his clearance code into the pod's safety lock.

"Carter! Anything on your end?"

Carter looked down the road, but all he could see was a empty, fogged up street. "Nothing yet, sir!"

"I don't like this." Paccone grumbled to himself. "It's too quiet. Those bastards are up to something, I know it."

**Radio Station**

Back at the station, things were quiet as well. Kumi and Siler both kept a wary eye out for any threats, when the lead civilian, Meryn, came up and whispered, "I think we may have a problem."

"What is it?" Kumi asked.

"We checked the rear door of the station, and we found it busted open, and I mean _busted_. Hinges, locks, everything."

Kumi's eyes widened in alarm. "How many?"

"We're not sure, but we're organizing search teams and locking down the corridors."

"We'll be sure to keep an eye out." Kumi turned over to Sam, "You feeling okay?"

"Right as rain," she managed to gasp, "though some more morphine wouldn't hurt."

"Keep your guard up Sam, we've got hostiles somewhere in here."

Sam nodded and turned over to Colette. "Collette."

"Yes?"

"You know how to use a gun?"

"No..."

"It's simple really," Sam reached into her holster and handed her M6D pistol to Colette and said," Just point and shoot, and shoot, and shoot."

Collette nodded and turned away, and Sam heard an audible _click_.

"Oh, and Collette? Turn off the safety and keep it off."

**Omega**

"Something's wrong." Tarin muttered.

Williams jumped in surprise. That was the first thing the first lieutenant had said in the past hour.

"What you talking about, El-Tee?"

"Look." Tarin pointed over to the elevator, "pretty much the entire squad is back, _except _for the Captain and her Elite friend. Now, you may have absolute trust in that Elite, but I don't." Tarin paused for a second, and then continued, "We're going down."

"Are you serious?" Williams gasped in surprise, "But the Cap said-"

Tarin glared at Williams. "I am the ranking officer here, _sergeant_, I suggest you don't piss me off."

Williams shivered and nodded. He didn't want to mess with this girl. From the rumors he heard, before she was transferred into the Helljumpers, Tarin used to be part of the Pathfinders, a now-disbanded military unit that basically fulfilled the same job as the Spartans, and a bit more. It was also rumored that they were trained to kill since childbirth, and that a few even had telepathic powers...

"Lets go," Tarin said, snapping Williams back to reality.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Meanwhile, in the bowels of the facility, it was a literal bloodbath. Holy was in his element, diving into the masses of undead, hacking away at their ranks with his plasma sword. The air was filled with the smell of fried flesh as the energy blade boiled away flesh, blood, and bone. Karla saw Holy pull off an intricate figure-eight slash that disemboweled three zombies and beheaded another. Another slash cut two more zombies to pieces. Karla had never seen such brute force presented in such an elegant way before. Though Karla would fire occasionally to keep any zombies off Holy's back, the Elite pretty much had this entire fight in the bag.

Holy finally finished the fight by knocking down the last zombie, and driving his sword into its chest in a brutal finishing move. The Elite roared as he pulled the energy blade from the zombie's chest, gore gushing out of the wound like a geyser.

Dazed and dumbfounded by the Elite's show of force, Karla could only stand and stare at Holy. Holy, meanwhile, just casually turned off his sword, stretched his shoulders, and sighed as if this sort of thing happened every day.

"Nothing like a good battle to rejuvenate one's senses."

"Captain!"

Karla turned to see Tarin and Williams running in from the elevator.

"We came down to see if you were- holy shit!" Williams stared wide-eyed at the fresh carnage Holy had wrought. Tarin, however, just stared at the bodies casually and raised an eyebrow.

"Guess we didn't have to come down after all."

**Robles**

"Got it!" Mann yelled.

Slowly, the doors to the pod hissed open. Paccone ran over to see what was inside. "Now lets see what those cheapskates at the Navy got for us here..." He glanced inside and whistled.

"What've we got?" Leo asked, unable to see the contents.

"All sorts of little goodiess. More weapons, extra ammo, some heavy ordnance... and something here I haven't see before..." Paccone bent down and picked up a certain weapon, about the size of a Jackhammer rocket launcher, but much bulkier with more electronics attached.

"Any idea what the hell this thing is?" He asked.

"Ummm, lets see here..." Mann fumbled through several boxes and found a datadisc. "I think this might be it."

"Play it."

Mann inserted the disc into his helmet and started reading its contents. "Ummm... its called the X-302 Nuclear Delivery System. Still in the experimental stage, of course. Uh, there a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo in here, but in condensed form, it basically uses nuclear fusion to cram a low-yield tactical nuclear warhead into a man-portable delivery system. It's main purpose is for use in 'compromised urban environments'."

"English, please."

"Its a Jackhammer that can shoot nukes."

Paccone whistled. This'll definitely do nicely. How do you use it?

"Uhhh," Mann continued reading, "You basically load a warhead, point, and shoot just like a normal Jackhammer, and the electronics take care of the rest. Apparently, they thought it was the best way to get Marines to learn how to use this thing."

"Typical Navy." Paccone pouted.

"And there's a footnote here... oh ha ha, it says that once fired, it is suggested that you run and/or take cover."

"Right, well lets load this stuff up and get going."

As Paccone and Mann were in the pod, going over all of the items like kids in a candy store, Leo couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was wrong. He could swear the ground was shaking. He looked down at a nearby puddle, and noticed that it was rippling. A guy didn't have to watch Jurassic Park to know that something was very, very wrong about that. And then he saw it, a two story tall, hulking figure of rotting flesh and oozing organs...

Paccone's radio crackled, and he picked it up. "What is it?"

"Sir? This is Kumi. Just a heads up, but we may have possible hostiles inside the radio station. The civies here think that they can handle it, but I just thought I would tell you."

"Good, if anything-"

"Sir!" Leo yelled, "We need to leave, NOW!"

"I think our position may be compromised sir," Kumi continued, "I suggest moving to a better location."

Paccone went around the pod, to see Leo gaping up at something in horror. Paccone raised his head, and saw what was paralyzing the Marine in fear.

"Stay there, Leeds, compared to our position, yours may be the best of all."


	32. Big, Fat and Ugly

Chapter 31: Big, Fat and Ugly

**Robles**

It was a hulking monster of assorted body parts and organs. It looked as if the entire thing was stitched together from various parts of various people and animals, with a massive, disemboweled body, short stubby legs, and thick arms, each holding an enormous meat cleaver.

"Any ideas?" Leo asked.

"Yes." Paccone loaded a Jackhammer rocket launcher. "We kill it."

Mann took one look at the creature and nearly lost his nerve. "Kill THAT thing! Are you crazy?"

"No, I'm a Marine!" Paccone yelled, aiming the Jackhammer at the abomination. "Now do something useful and grab some extra rockets!"

Paccone launched his first missile at the creature. It shot through the air and slammed into its chest. The thing staggered backwards momentarily in a cloud of its own blood and gore, chest blown out by the blast, but it was till very much alive.

"Tough bastard." Paccone muttered as he launched another rocket.

The second rocket shot in and found its mark, piercing the abomination's skull and blowing its head to bits like a melon. The body staggered a bit and then fell over, crushing several cars as it did. Though the body twitched a little, there was no doubt that the thing was dead.

"See? That wasn't so tough."

"Sir, can we get out of here now?" Leo asked.

"Why should we? We took care of that thing."

"Was it the only one?"

Paccone paused and thought for a while. "Lets load up and get the hell out of here."

**Radio Station**

"They're on the way back." Said Kumi as she listened in on the radio.

"Heh," Sam said, "any idea on when Leo and the others get here?"

"In about five minutes."

"Uhhhh guys?" Collette whimpered, "There's something wrong with the other guy…."

"What?" said Kumi, still occupied with the radio.

"It's that other guy. He's not moving." Collette pointed to the injured civilian.

"Fuck!" Kumi yelled, and rushed over to the injured man. "How long?"

"I don't know!"

Kumi looked over the man for several seconds, and realized he was already dead. She shook her head and stood up. There was nothing she could do for him now. Suddenly, she heard gunfire coming from within the station. Kumi picked up her rifle and yelled, "Siler!"

"Already on it!" Siler ran for the door.

Kumi ran to the door, stopped, and turned over to Sam. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Go on Kumi, you're needed elsewhere." Sam sighed.

"Anything goes wrong, give us a call, 'kay Sam?"

Sam waved the comment off in annoyance, "What are you, my mother? I'll be fine."

**Omega**

"I suppose we're going to have to hold this place." Tarin muttered, looking around at the destroyed Karla shook her head as she saw a flash of Riley getting ripped apart by the undead mob. "I don't want to needlessly risk anymore lives. There may be more of those things hidden around here."

"Course of action?" asked Williams.

"This facility is now deemed compromised, which means that I as commanding officer have the authority to destroy the facility to prevent it from falling into enemy hands." Karla said grimly.

Williams and Tarin both nodded, understanding what she meant.

"Tarin, Williams. Go topside and grab the HAVOK tac-nuke from Hung's Warthog. Meet me back here, and we'll plant it in the lowest level of the facility."

"You humans and your scorched earth policy." Holy snorted, "Such a crude way of dealing with your own equipment and technology."

"Yeah, well it works, and that's all that matters." Karla retorted. "Once we set the nuke, we arm it, get out, and head to Robles."

"Robles?" Williams asked curiously.

"I looked through the file, and found that these guys tested their virus by releasing controlled bursts in the wild. Some of t hem were scattered, but most are centered in one spot, Robles."

**Robles**

Though the gunfire was almost constant several minutes before, the noise started dying down, from long continuous blasts to short bursts, and finally to the occasional burp of fire. That meant only one of two things, either the defenders were successfully eliminating the zombies, or worse, the opposite was happening and the number of defenders was dwindling. Unfortunately, Sam couldn't tell which.

"Uhh… uhh… Sam?" she heard Collette whimper.

"What is it?"

Collette pointed to the body of the dead civilian. "I thought you and Kumi said he was dead…"

"He was…"


	33. Stitches

Chapter 33: Stitches

**Robles**

"You know, Sarge, didn't that seem a bit too easy?" Leo wondered as they were driving back to the radio station.

"A blessing, in my opinion."

"Oh yeah?" Leo pointed, "Why are you still holding the Jackhammer?"

Paccone grinned. "Privilege of rank, private. I get to take what I want."

Leo was about to retort when he thought he heard something. He stopped the Warthog so the engine wouldn't throw off his hearing.

"Hey, what's the holdup?" Mann asked.

"Shhh!" Leo put his finger to his lips. "You hear that?"

There were several moments of tense silence, but then, a very faint, but audible _thud thud thud_ could be heard… coming from behind them.

"Oh no," Mann groaned, "Don't tell me that-"

A very familiar roar answered back.

"Damn! That thing's still alive? I thought you put a rocket in its face!"

Paccone looked at his Jackhammer as if it were somehow defective and said, "I thought I did."

"Well, in any case, he is back, and he is _pissed_." Mann looked at Leo. "I suggest you drive, NOW."

As if to underscore Mann's words, the abomination rounded a corner and roared again as it saw them. It was also deceptively fast, and with just a few strides, the creature was almost on top of them. Leo, seeing the abomination closing in them, slammed his foot on their Warthog's accelerator and drove as if the devil himself were right behind them.

**Radio Station**

Sam looked over to her left to see that the now supposedly dead man was twitching and slowly squirming, as if trying to get back up, but couldn't remember how.

"Oh shit." Sam gasped. She snatched her battle rifle and pulled the trigger.

_Click_. Nothing happened. The gun was jammed. Sam cursed again, and tried to manually remove the jammed round. Meanwhile, the now-zombified civilian slowly got to its feet, and glared at her with a meat-eating stare. Suddenly, there were three loud _bangs_! And the zombie fell to the floor, twitching. Sam turned to see Colette standing the other side of the room, holding the pistol in her trembling hands.

"Good shooting there, Colette." Sam said. She looked quietly at the corpse, and suddenly, she figured it all out. It was all so clear now… "Colette, can I have my pistol back?"

Meanwhile, in another section of the station, the cleanup operation was going well. The improvised search teams were successfully hunting down and eliminating the intruders. Kumi and Siler already managed to cut down six of the undead horrors already. Kumi and Siler made their way down a narrow hallway, checking any rooms they passed and locking doors as they moved. Kumi was in the lead and caught sight of something odd.

"Siler?" Kumi stopped. "Did you remember seeing this hole in the wall?"

Siler moved up behind Kumi, and saw a massive hole in the wall. The wall was just a mess of tangled steel and splintered wood, and chunks of pulverized plaster littered the floor. It looked as if a small elephant had gone straight through it.

"What could have done that?" Siler asked in disbelief.

**Robles**

"Sir, permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead, private."

"That was the _craziest_ shit I have ever seen!"

Paccone grinned, "But it worked, didn't it?"

"I suppose so…"

Behind them, the massive, bloated corpse of the abomination laid on the ground, body smoking from repeated rocket impacts, the result of some good aim and very tricking driving.

"I'm pretty sure it'll stay down this time."

"Umm, sir?" Mann trembled. "I hate to say this, but I don't think you killed it for good."

"What?" Paccone turned around, and saw that the corpse was gone. "Where the hell did it go?" He sputtered.

Leo shouted in surprise when the flesh composite burst from a building several yards in front of them. He slammed the Warthog in the reverse and started driving in the opposite direction.

"Why doesn't this thing just stay dead!" Paccone yelled, reloading his rocket launcher.

**Omega**

The elevator slowly creaked down to the deepest depths of the Omega facility. Karla couldn't help but feel that they were being lowered into the pit of the Underworld. Because they were carrying the HAVOK tactical nuclear mine with them, there was only enough room in the elevator to accommodate her, Williams, Tarin, and Holy. Karla hoped that would be enough to get the HAVOK into position and arm it.

"Ready, guys?" asked Karla.

Her other team members grimly nodded, and prepared themselves for what may appear on the other side of the door. The old freight lift doors slowly heaved themselves open, revealing an empty hallway.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that." Said Williams.

Karla and Holy led the way down the hall. The lowest level contained the power systems and fuel storage tanks that would give the HAVOK the extra punch needed to annihilate the facility, as well as destroy vital support structures that kept the place standing.

"Damn, this place gives me the creeps." Williams said nervously, looking at all of the empty holding cells.

"Keep moving." Karla said.

Williams kicked the robotic dolly carrying the HAVOK warhead to get it moving. Though its basic AI paled in comparison to that of a standard operating one, the dolly was still smart enough to carry its cargo and follow the squad it was assigned to.

"It looks clear." Tarin observed, giving a close look at the surrounding environment.

"That's what I thought seven levels up." Karla said grimly.

"What's that?" Holy pointed down the hall.

Karla turned and saw a large, observation window. The kind they had in hospitals and labs to let observers view what was within without being exposed to hazards like dangerous chemicals or machinery. In it, she saw a man in a bright white haz-mat suit pounding against the glass window. Tarin and Williams moved forward to try and help. Tarin hit the door console, but nothing happened. The door remained shut. Suddenly, something in the darkness of the lab grabbed the hapless man, slammed into the window several times with bone crushing force, and pulled him into the darkness. Tarin and Williams quickly backed away from the window.

"What the hell was that?" Williams yelled frantically.

"Can we kill it?" Holy asked.

"No." Karla said sternly. "We have a mission to complete."

**Robles**

"We should really give him a name." Paccone said as he looked at the dead-again corpse.

"You're kidding me." Leo coughed. "It's a giant zombie that keeps chasing us and won't die, and you want to _name _it?"

"Well, there's a superstitious and practical side to it. Have I ever told you about Sparky?"

"No." Leo shook his head. "I haven't been in your squad _that_ long."

"Well, if we live through this, I'll tell you about it someday."

"And why did you want to name him?" asked Mann.

"Well, for the superstitious side, its just a sort of good luck thing to fight something you can just name."

"And the practical side?" Leo asked.

Paccone shrugged. "Well, if it keeps coming back, you've gotta call it _something_."

Leo nodded. "Good point. Hey, I know, lets call it Michael, or Jack, or something."

"Ugh, no… just… no." Paccone shook his head in disgust. "You are _not_ naming anything _ever_."

"You have a better one, sir?"

"I was thinking of calling him Stitches. I kinda like it. Has a nice ring to it."

Suddenly, the corpse groaned and started twitching.

"Uhhh, maybe we should leave before Stitches wakes up from his beauty nap." Said Mann, backing away.

**Radio Station**

"I'm telling you, no ordinary zombie can do that sort of thing." Kumi said as she opened the door to Sam's room."

"Well, we haven't found anything in the station. Anything big enough to make a hole that size would be sure to leave a trail." Siler said.

"Yeah, well- oh my god!" Kumi burst through the door when she saw Sam holding her pistol at her own head. "What the hell are you doing?" Kumi screamed, snatching the pistol away from Sam.

Sam sighed. "I was hoping to save you the trouble. It's really only a matter of time…"

"Time for what?" asked Kumi.

"Maybe later. I'm tired."

Kumi was about to press Sam for more answers, when there was a loud crash from the hallway behind them.

"What, the _fuck_ is that!" Siler yelled.

"Armageddon." The creature growled.


	34. Armageddon

Chapter 34: Armageddon

**Robles**

"It can talk!" Kumi gasped in surprise.

"Shutup and shoot it!" Siler yelled, aiming his rifle.

Before Kumi and Siler even had a chance to blink, the creature, it resembled a reanimated Elite, suddenly materialized right between them. It swung its massive arms out, catching each Marine by surprise. For a split second, Kumi saw Siler hit the wall and go limp, and second after that, she found herself sprawled on the street outside.

**Unknown**

Chaos smiled as he viewed the progress of his newest lieutenant. Though the humans were numerous in number, they lacked the kind of physical superiority Elites had, which why he favored those forms more. It was difficult finding any intact body of an Elite, but fortunately, he was able to find several bodies in the forest with enough biomass to reanimate and rebuild. He now had a dozen lieutenants leading his forces through the town. He wondered, however, why Armageddon was attacking an area he had specifically barred his minions from going near. He didn't want to risk having his plan derailed.

Robles 

"I think we lost him!" Mann said, keeping a lookout to the rear.

"Good, he was starting to get on my nerves." Paccone muttered. "Stitches just never stops."

"We're coming up to the radio station." Leo said. "We should be able to hold out with the fresh equipment we've- oh my god!"

Leo slammed the brakes, bringing the Warthog to a screeching halt. Before Paccone even had a chance to yell at Leo about what the hell he was doing, Leo jumped out of the Warthog to check Kumi's limp body lying on the pavement.

"Shit," Leo muttered as he checked Kumi's pulse. He sighed in relief when he found that she was still alive, but she was out cold. Then he suddenly remembered that Kumi was supposed to be guarding Sam, and Leo froze in momentary terror.

"Sarge! We gotta go! The others are in trouble!"

**Radio Station**

Armageddon slowly made his way forward. He caught sight of a small human girl on the far side of the room. He gave a menacing glare, and was pleased to see her squeal in fright. He didn't make any move toward her, however. She was of no threat to him. Armageddon kept his attention focused on the female human lying against the wall. He failed to see what that fool Chaos had seen in this human, but he was determined to find out and use it for himself. He advanced toward his target, ready to grab her and escape this wretched building.

Sam could do nothing but watch the thing come closer toward her. It was not as if it was going to make any difference. Whether or not that thing killed her, she was still going to become one of them. One of those sick, twisted caricatures of human beings, that did nothing more than kill anything they could and devour it. However, something inside her, almost like a voice, urged her to fight with everything she had.

_Do not give up so easily!_

"Why should I try, even when I know that I will lose?"

_Who are you to judge what can and will happen?_

"So, what? Are you trying to help me or something?"

_I cannot help you if you cannot help yourself!_

"So what do you suggest I do?"

_Fight it! Deny it the right to take your body and soul!_

"Why?"

_What would your sister think of you? What do you think she would do in this situation?_

Armageddon barely flinched when the 7.62 mm round pierced his chest, but we was nonetheless surprised that this girl would even have the will to fight back. Perhaps Chaos _did_ see something in this human after all. He continued moving forward, shrugging off the other rounds slamming into his body and armor.

'Somebody help her!" Collette shrieked.

Leo heard Collette's cry as he ran through the halls. He checked his rifle to make sure it was loaded. As he rounded the last corner however, he was blinded by a flash of light.

**Unknown**

Chaos shook his head as he saw the events progressing. Armageddon had made his move far too quickly and crudely. All he had accomplished was to warn Chaos' enemies about what was going on, and that Chaos may have made his lieutenants a little _too_ independent. He decided to cease surveillance on this particular little band of humans for the moment. His flesh composite creature had not responded to his queries for quite some time. He was afraid that his indestructible creation had finally taken one too many rockets.

**Robles**

Sam blinked in surprise as she looked at the pile of smoking ashes in front of her. She didn't really catch what had happened, though she was glad the monster was gone. Oddly enough, the strange voice in her head had disappeared as well.

Collette poked her head out, seeing that Armageddon was gone.

"Is it over?" She asked.

"Yeah." Sam smiled, "It's over."

"Sam!"

Sam looked up and saw Leo, somewhat bewildered at what happened. Siler groaned in pain as he picked himself up, while Mann and Paccone came in carrying Kumi, who was still out cold.

"Now what in the hell happened here?" Paccone asked.

**Omega **

"Alright," Karla said as Williams and Tarin set down the nuke. "We need two senior officers to arm to the warhead. That means me and Tarin will have to enter all the clearance and arming codes, and that you and Holy will have to watch our backs."

"Me?" Williams asked, glancing nervously at the Elite.

"Yeah, you, unless you happen to be in command." Tarin said.

"Do you have some sort of issue with me?" Holy asked.

"No, nothing at all…" Williams said weakly.

Karla smiled, "Well, you two have plenty of time to get acquainted with each other." And with that, she pulled out an elaborate keychain and red codebook.

"Alright, lets arm this baby."


	35. Holocaust

Chapter 35: Holocaust

**Omega**

"So… have you ever done something like this before?" Tarin asked as she helped Karla set up the nuke.

"Actually, no. Even after all the time I spent in the Marines, I've never had to actually use one of these things. Besides," she shrugged, "these things are so easy to detonate, even a complete idiot can figure it out."

"Charming." Tarin muttered, inserting her arming key, "Anything else you think can go horribly wrong?"

Meanwhile, in the nearby hallway, Williams and Holy kept watch for any threats of the undead kind. For the moment, there seemed to be none, so Williams tried to start up some conversation with the Elite to try and ease his nerves.

"So Holy, you ever do this much?"

"Do what?" the Elite asked.

"Well, you know," Williams shrugged, "standing guard."

"Guard duty was considered punishment for an Elite, as it was a duty only suitable for Grunts."

"Uh huh, so you pretty much think this is totally demeaning for an Elite of your stature."

Holy sniffed. "I suppose you humans have to make do, seeing as you lack any lesser lifeforms to boss around."

"Well, I guess so- hey!" Williams glared at Holy, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Holy just snickered and said nothing. Williams sighed and leaned against the wall. "Man, no respect. No respect at all."

Suddenly, there was a deafening clanking sound in the darkness, as if something were leaping around the pipes. Williams and Holy both raised their rifles, but couldn't pinpoint the source of the noise. Williams glanced around nervously. There were so many pipes, wires, and other obstacles scattered throughout the area, that it was impossible to properly illuminate anything with his flashlight.

"I don't suppose you Elites have superhuman vision as well, do you?"

Holy shook his head and continued to scan the surrounding area. There was no telling what could be hiding out here. He kept looking at the inky blackness when he heard Williams scream in alarm. Holy whipped around and saw a hideous, half-rotted arm clutching Williams' collar, trying to pull him up towards the ceiling. Still shouting incoherently, Williams managed to grab his pistol and fired wildly into the ceiling above him. The flashes of light from the gunfire failed to hit whatever was grabbing him, but managed to illuminate it enough for Holy to see what it was.

It was a horrendous, spider-like creature, but instead of legs, it was a mass of human arms, heads, and claws all reaching out in different angles and directions, with a single, massive mouth on its belly. Holy nearly turned and fled at the sight of such a sickening monster, but managed to keep his nerve. He quickly lunged forward, grabbed the arm assaulting Williams, and pulled with all his might. He heard a wet popping sound and was satisfied to see that he had not only freed Williams, but had yanked the entire arm out of its socket. The creature shrieked in pain and ran, leaving only a twitching arm and a pool of blood that had spurted from its socket as proof of the attack.

"What the hell was that?" Karla yelled.

"Trouble." Holy growled. "And from the looks of it, more of it."

"What?" Williams stared at Holy, bewildered. "What makes you say that?"

Holy pointed down the hall, and Williams was terrified to see three more of the same creature that had attacked him before.

"Oh shit." He said.

**Robles**

"What happened here?" Leo asked, looking at both Sam and Colette.

"Hell if I know." Sam coughed. "What happened to Kumi and Siler?"

"They're both fine, though Kumi had quite a fall." Leo sighed. "Paccone is trying to call out for an airlift, but it might take a while for them to get here, so we're still effectively stranded and all alone."

"So, it's business as usual, huh?"

Leo grinned. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Suddenly, Leo's radio crackled with Paccone's voice. "Carter, get out here. We've got trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Leo asked warily.

"Stitches is back." He said grimly. "And he's brought friends."

**Omega**

The first crawler shot forward, swinging on the nearby pipes like a mutant chimp. Williams opened fire with his battle rifle and managed to shoot off a head and two of its arms. The crawler shrieked and backed off from the sudden fire, bleeding profusely from its new wounds. Holy emptied his entire clip into the second crawler, stunning it long enough for him to drop his rifle and spear the monster with his energy sword. The crawler hissed and gurgled as the blade melted its organs before Holy sliced it in half. Williams quickly reloaded his rifle and picked off the last of the crawler's heads. With no eyes, the creature blindly thrashed around before Williams ended its suffering with a frag grenade.

Meanwhile, the third crawler held back, keeping its distance from the fighting until it found the right moment and pounced, leaping onto Holy with full force. The Elite's shields flared as they tried to repel the sudden threat, but managed to hold its integrity. The crawler slid off the shield, stunned and confused, and was quickly hacked apart by the enraged Elite.

"Is it over?" Williams asked, toeing part of the dead crawler.

Before Holy could answer, however, the wounded crawler that they had first encountered landed right on top of him. Already weakened by the third crawler's previous attack, Holy's shield failed and the Elite found himself trying to keep the thing's mouth from ripping his head off. He could feel the crawler's teeth digging into his helmet as the monster tried to wrench it off so it could reach the soft flesh within. Holy tried to get his energy sword, but he needed both arms to keep the crawler's mouth from closing any furthyer. Suddenly, Holy heard an ear-deafening blast and recognized it as the blast of a human shotgun. Several more blasts, and Holy felt the crawler's grip on his head loosen. With all of his strength, Holy heaved the creature off of him, but it was a wasted gesture, since it was already dead. He turned to see Williams holding a smoking shotgun and grinning.

"I guess we're even now." He said.

At that moment, both Karla and Tarin came out of the reactor room and saw the carnage that lay throughout the hallway.

"Should I ask?"

Williams and Holy both spoke at the same time. "No."

Three hours later, the entire mountain range shook from an earth-shattering nuclear blast. The ground under the Omega facility was instantly vaporized, and the entire complex was swallowed in radioactive fire seconds before the ground collapsed into itself. All that was left of the entire site was a kilometer-wide crater of irradiated dirt and ash, and a pile of melted steel and concrete that used to be Omega.

Meanwhile, an entire platoon of Marines was safely tucked away in a flight of Pelican dropships, headed to the sleepy town of Robles at full speed.

"It appears I'll have to make my move soon." Chaos grumbled.


	36. Runnin' Riot!

Chapter 36: Runnin' Riot!

**Robles **

Outside the radio station, a legion of undead horrors lumber down the ruined street, moaning and shrieking for living flesh. Most of the zombies were merely reanimated corpses, but Leo could see that more and more of the creatures began taking on more deformed and terrifying shapes that defied description, but looked like smaller more warped versions of Stitches. Several were even holding weapons, crude everyday objects like pipes, axes, and wooden planks and more than few had grisly, gore covered meat cleavers.

"There's no way we can fight that." Leo said. "Not from here."

"What do we do then?" Kumi asked.

"This area is already compromised." Paccone said grimly, clearly trying to think of what to do next. "We take the Warthogs in the garage and we fall back. Either out of the town or to a more fortified position. We can't stay."

"I agree." Sam coughed, trying to stand, "those things are only here because they're after us. If we leave, so do they, and the survivors will be left alone."

Collette silently whispered to Sam, so nobody else would hear,"Don't you mean that they're after _you_?"

Sam ignored the question and continued, "We can backtrack back to the landing pad. There's plenty of space there to let us maneuver our Warthogs, and there's a chance we can catch a Pelican's attention."

Paccone nodded, but was still unsure of the plan. "Leo?"

Leo shrugged and said, "If you can think of a better plan."

Several minutes later, the Marines were gathered in the station's subterranean garage. The access gate was closed and chained shut to prevent the zombies from getting in. Two Warthogs both sat in front of the gate, engines warmed up and ready to go. Unfortunately, there was one problem…

"Who's going to close the gate once we drive out? I mean, it won't be right to leave the door open for any zombies to pour in. Maybe we should get one of the survivors down here."

"There's no time!" Mann shouted. "They're almost right on top of us!"

"Collette." Sam sat up from the bed of her Warthog. "You'll have to stay here and close the gate."

"But-"

Sam cut her off. "Collette, its far too dangerous for you to come with us." _And stay with me_, she silently added, "Stay here and close the gate. The survivors upstairs will take care of you."

The girl reluctantly nodded and ran up the chains holding the gate closed. Siler tossed her a ring of keys, adding that the gate key was the rusty silver one.

"Alright, lets get this show started." Paccone said, loading his battle rifle. "Go!"

With that, both Warthogs roared out of the garage, knocking the gate open and disappearing into the Aeolan mist.

**En route to Robles**

"How much longer?" Karla asked, impatience dripping from her voice.

"How about you stop asking questions every five minutes and let me fly this damn thing!" the pilot answered, obviously irritated. "We're not going to get anywhere if you distract me long enough to plow our Pelican straight into the ground."

Karla sighed and retreated back to the rear of the dropship, anxious for the craft to reach its final destination.

**Robles**

Meanwhile, on the ground, two Warthogs shot down the street, trying to outrun the moving wall of rotting flesh. Leo led the way in the lead Warthog with Mann and Paccone while Siler took the rear with Sam and Kumi. Most of the slower, normal zombies quickly fell behind, but the faster ghouls were catching up, while Stitches', despite his size, was easily keeping pace with his deceptive speed. Also, the road they were driving one could prove to be as deadly as the zombies that were chasing them. The road was narrow and cluttered with trash and derelict vehicles, and visibility was almost zero due to the mist. Leo had to constantly make last minute swerves and turns, nearly tossing Paccone and Mann off the side of the vehicle. He was also pretty sure that the only way Siler was navigating through this mess was by following his taillights.

Suddenly, he heard the distinct shrieking sound that could be attributed to the ghouls. He quickly hazarded a glance upwards and saw dozens of them leaping across the roofs and crawling along the walls of the surrounding buildings. He quickly pointed up and yelled, "They're trying to flank us!"

Paccone nodded and raised a heavy .30 caliber machine gun he had gotten from the drop pod. He pulled the trigger and let the lead fly. The sound, muzzle flash, and recoil of the weapon was incredible, and without a tripod or mount, was inaccurate as hell, but that wasn't much of an issue, since the walls were literally covered with ghouls. The freakish, skeletal ghouls weren't tough enough to take a heavy .30 caliber round, and just one would knock them off from whatever they were standing on. It was literally raining bodies, debris, and shattered glass as the spray of rounds hit everything and anything wherever the machine gun was pointing.

Kumi, in the meantime, was busy trying to hold off attacking ghouls and making sure that Sam didn't go into shock at the same time. Unlike the small arsenal Paccone had packing, all she had was a bandolier of grenades, a battle rifle, a shotgun, and enough ammo for both guns. Right now, the battle rifle seemed to be adequate for the situation. She took aim and fired at a group of three ghouls, shredding two of them apart and forcing the third to back off.

Suddenly, Stitches burst out from the intersection in front of them. Leo brought the Warthog to a screeching halt, wondering how in the world something so large could've outrun them.

"How the hell did he get there?" Leo screamed.

"He must have cut us off!" Paccone yelled back.

"How could he be that smart?"

Before Paccone could answer, Stitches roared and charged forward, swinging his massive meat cleaver. Paccone, who was standing in the bed of the Warthog, ducked as the massive cleaver passed over him by a margin of inches. Cursing, Paccone got back up and yelled, "Tell Siler to stop and find another route out! We've gotta get out of here and lead Stitches away!"

"We're splitting up?" Leo asked.

Paccone nodded. "Better he chases us than them."

"Here, sir!" Mann tossed the Jackhammer to Paccone. "I think we're going to need this."

Several meters back, Siler received the frantic command and made a sharp left into a side street. Unknown to him or Kumi however, something began to tail them, keeping its distance and using the advancing ghouls as cover…

Stitches roared as the 102mm shaped charge slammed into his chest, driving him back several meters. Paccone ejected the spent rocket tube and threw it onto the street.

"How many more rockets do we have?"

"We've only got two mags left!" Mann said, digging through the ammo crates.

Four rockets. Paccone grimaced. This wasn't going to be enough. He yelled, "Carter! Back up and take that right turn! We've got to lead him to where we have the advantage!"

Leo nodded and hit the gas. The Warthog sputtered to life and drove. Paccone looked up to see an ominous water tower in the distance. He had a plan, and if they could just reach that tower, maybe they could pull it off.


	37. I Expect you to Die

Chapter 37: I Expect you to Die

**Robles**

The Warthog barrelled down the road at dizzying speeds. Desperate to keep Stitches at a distance from the vehicle, Leo was pushing the Warthog to its limits. With all of the obstacles littered around the road, and with visibility poor, it was a wonder that the jeep hadn't crashed or rolled over.

Paccone was impressed with Leo's skills behind the wheel. He'd have to make a note of it if they ever lived through this.

"Can't you make this hunk of junk go faster?" Mann cried, firing an ineffectual burst of rifle fire at the mountain of rotting meat behind them, "He's starting to get closer!"

"You try driving this piece of shit!" Leo retorted as he wheeled around a derelict car. "Whatever you've got planned, Sarge, you better do it fast!"

"Way ahead of you, Carter!" yelled Paccone. He bent down and picked up the Jackhammer. There were only a few rockets left, so he couldn't waste any of them. He loaded in a fresh clip, and waited for Leo to pass the water tower that he had spotted earlier.

"Almost…"

Leo drove the Warthog straight pass the water tower, weaving around more obstacles.

"Almost…"

The road was finally clear, which let Leo keep the Warthog straight and allowing Paccone to keep aim.

"Almost…"

Finally, Stitches, with his characteristic stubbornness, kept chase. He stomped along the road until he finally reached the foot of the water tower.

Paccone fired.

The first rocket flew in, slamming into one of the water tower's support legs and completely incinerating it. The tower keeled over but still stood, the remaining three legs taking up the extra weight. Paccone quickly ejected his rocket clip, loaded in a fresh one, and banged off the two rockets in quick succession. The first rocket was a little off center, and it bounced off of one of the tower legs and imbedded itself into Stitches' flank, tearing out and searing a large chunk of flesh. The second rocket hit another tower leg square on, demolishing the metal structure.

The remaining two tower legs, unable to support the sudden extra weight, groaned and cracked as the large holding tank tipped over. Metal squealed and shrieked as the tank slammed onto Stitches, driving him into the ground. The tank shattered and popped like a water balloon, spraying thousands of gallons of water in all directions. Leo ground the Warthog to a stop to see what was going on.

"Sir?"

Paccone dropped the now useless Jackhammer. "Yes, Carter?"

Leo pointed towards the remains of the water tower. "I am so not paying for that."

**In the air**

Karla sighed and tried to relax. One blessing and curse of the Pelican's design was the lack of windows in the craft. Usually, this was a good way to preserve morale, because soldiers wouldn't be able to see what the hell was going on outside. Unfortunately, it also meant that without anything to look at, the trips were extremely dull, which proved to be more damaging to a soldier's psyche than any amount of combat.

At least, that's how Karla felt about it.

As she sat in the Pelican's seat, she noticed Williams toying around with an ominous, black box in his lap.

"Williams, what the hell is that?"

Without looking up, he replied, "Well, as we were getting out of the basement, I noticed one of the corpses holding the thing as if it were his mother. It took a little effort to pry it out of his cold dead hands."

Nothing irritated Karla more than Williams' sense of humor. "Sergeant, you will put that box down and not go near it." She pointed to the triple-bladed biohazard sign stamped on the side of the box. "God knows what's sitting in there."

"Yes, lieutenant." Williams stood up and casually shoved the box into one of the Pelican's equipment lockers.

The pilot then reached for the intercom and announced, "Reaching the DZ in ten minutes."

**Robles**

Kumi gritted her teeth as she fired off a burst of rifle fire at the approaching ghouls. She was down to her last rifle clip, and there was no shortage of ghouls ready to hitch a ride on her Warthog. She yelled to Siler.

"They're all over us! We gotta lose them!"

Siler nodded and swerved the Warthog around a corner and screeched to a halt, disbelief on his face.

There was Collette, standing in the middle of the road, illuminated by the Warthog's headlights.

"What the hell…" Kumi muttered. What was that girl doing here?

"What's wrong?" Sam groaned, trying to stand up, but winced in pain in the effort.

"You have to leave." Collette said gravely. "It's coming for you."

"What?" Kumi was completely bewildered.

"Tell Sam that it's coming for her, and it won't stop as long as it or she is alive." Collette continued.

Kumi blinked for a second, and Collette disappeared. Kumi shook her head. It was as if the girl had just blinked out of existence, as if she was never there.

"Did you just see that, Siler?"

"I don't know." Siler stammered. Obviously scared at what he saw.

They didn't have much time to think things over, however. Kumi yelped in fright when something slammed into the side of their Warthog, flipping the entire vehicle over onto its side. She, along with Sam was thrown from the vehicle and hit the pavement hard. Reflexively, Kumi grabbed the shotgun lying next to her, pumped it, and took aim.

She was terrified at what she had in her gunsights. It looked like an Elite, except it was maybe two or three times larger to the point where its battered armor barely fit anymore. It was similar to the one that had attacked them before, except for the fact that its eyes glowed a hideous orange.

"Well…" It growled. Kumi recoiled. It's voice sounded like rotten wood, "I've finally found you."

**Elsewhere**

"_The time for games is over. We must intervene."_

"_Scohar, you were extremely lucky that the Elders did not catch your earlier intervention. Do not push your luck."_

"_Besides, you had assured us that she would be able to handle the situation."_

"_The situation is now no longer under her control. The being has acted far sooner than we had predicted. If it succeeds now, who knows what it may plan for this galaxy?"_

"_If you intervene, I will have no choice but to inform the Elders."  
_

"_So be it."_

**Robles**

Kumi quickly fired her shotgun as fast as she could pump the weapon, but the buckshot didn't even seem to phase the Elite. Siler managed to scramble out of the driver's seat of the Warthog and aimed his pistol. He screamed in pain when the Elite reached out and crushed both pistol and hand with one fluid motion. The creature took once glance at him and snorted.

"You serve no purpose to me."

Kumi could only watch helplessly as the Elite casually grabbed Siler's head and smacked it against the Warthog's hood with enough force to puncture it. Siler's body twitched for a second and then sagged. No human could survive something like that. Kumi tried to reload her shotgun, but just as quickly as it had killed Siler, the Elite swung out its outstretched arm and slammed her in the side of the head. Kumi felt herself hit the ground, and pain exploded somewhere in her neck. Kumi tried to move, but couldn't. She couldn't even feel anything from the neck down.

_Oh my god, I'm paralyzed!_

Meanwhile, Sam, who was knocked unconscious by the crash, laid on the ground, unaware of the massive horror stomping toward her. Kumi had a sickening feeling that Sam was the luckiest of the all.

**Water Tower**

"See, I told you I had a plan, private."

"I guess I'll have to take your word for it, sir."

Leo, Paccone, and Mann could only stand and watch as Stitches roared and thrashed. Though still alive, it was crushed under the massive weight of the water tower, and couldn't move. Paccone had tried throwing some grenades at Stitches' head, but that tactic had little effect on the meat monster. They had even resorted to driving over it with the Warthog, all that accomplished was making the vehicle even dirtier than before.

"Suggestions?" Paccone asked.

"Well, we could always try out that portable nuke launcher." Mann suggested.

"How many rounds?"

"Three."

Leo smiled. "I am all for that sir."

"What's the maximum range on that thing?"

Mann quickly checked the launcher. "Uhhh, all it says is that once you fire, its suggested you run and/or take cover."

"Wonderful. The guy who made this had to have a sense of humor. Give me that thing."

**Warthog Wreck**

Chaos could feel victory within his grasp. His ultimate weapon was right there, just begging him to take it, and there was nothing in the way to stop him. Those silly mortals put up a decent fight, but proved to be little challenge. He took note that one of them was still alive, but it didn't matter. He looked at his weapon again. Oh, how ignorant these mortals were. How could they not notice the potential power that this one possessed? Even now, bits of his DNA and some coding from those scientists he had killed were flowing through her blood. Changing her, evolving her. Soon all the power she possessed would be his.

Suddenly, Chaos felt a flurry of burning pain on his back. He turned to seek out his attacker, but was blinded by a bright, almost angelic light.

"_You will not succeed, abomination! I will make sure of that."_

Suddenly, an even brighter, though less brilliant, light filled the sky. Chaos was blinded.

When he regained his sight, all he could see was a mushroom cloud rising in the sky, and lost his telepathic link with one his larger creations. He also noticed that Scohar, and the two female mortals, including his weapon, were gone.

It was as if every undead being in Robles howled in rage.


	38. Reunion Round

Chapter 38: Reunion Round

The street glowed white hot under the intensity of a small man-made sun. Nuclear fire literally melted asphalt, concrete, and steel into puddles of sludge, shockwaves shattered surrounding buildings like glass, and anything vaguely incendiary burst into flame. In one blinking instant, two entire city blocks were obliterated from the map.

Tough as it was, Stitches didn't even stand a chance.

Unfortunately for the Marines who fired the warhead, they grossly underestimated the destructive range the bomb possessed. They were nearly fried by the explosive blast as they tried to gain distance with the Warthog.

"Drive faster!" Mann screamed, trying not to look behind.

"What the hell do you think I've been doing all day!" Leo yelled back, jamming his foot onto the accelerator.

**Over Robles**

"HOLY SHIT!"

Karla heard the pilot scream in surprise, and felt the Pelican suddenly swerve left, sending unrestrained equipment and men slamming into the side of the dropship. Through the cockpit door, she could see the bright flare of an artificial sun.

"What the in hell was that!" Williams groaned. He was one of the Marines unlucky enough to be sitting in the Pelican unrestrained.

Tarin growled, "It won't matter because I'll shoot you if you don't get off of me in the next five seconds."

Karla ignored the banter and made her way to cockpit.

"Tell the Pelicans to land at the edge of the blast zone." She said firmly.

"What?" The pilot was caught off guard by the sudden command. "But there's not enough space for all of the dropships to land."

She batted the remark aside. "Then hover. We'll rope in if we have it."

"Can't this wait until the port?"

"I know a nuclear detonation when I see one, and there's only one thing on this planet that would have access to nukes. Us."

The pilot nodded and relayed the orders to the other Pelicans.

**On the ground**

"That," Leo gasped, "Is absolutely the LAST time we give the Sarge anything that's even vaguely nuclear powered."

Paccone smirked and shouldered the launcher. "Hey, at least it killed Stitches."

"I hope so. Damn thing never stops."

"Hey," Mann cocked his head in curiousity. "Do you hear something?"

The three Marines looked up and saw a flight of Pelicans hovering above their heads. Marines were roping down from the rear of the dropships, and a few Pelicans dropped off Warthogs onto the street.

"I believe the cavalry has finally arrived." Paccone smiled.

"About damn time." Leo groaned, "I could use the extra rest."

"Sergeant Paccone!"

The sudden, sharp voice startled Leo. He had never heard anybody call the Sarge by his name and rank at the same time. He turned and thought he saw Sam, though he realized that it couldn't be true. She _looked_ like Sam, though she was slightly older, wore a different unit and rank badge, and had that intensity and charisma that Leo usually expected to see in officers, very much like Sarge himself. Paccone meanwhile turned. Leo swore he saw surprise and recognition flash across Paccone's face for a brief second, though he quickly recovered and saluted. The Captain eyed Paccone for several seconds, shook her head, and then finally spoke.

"Ronald Paccone, why is it that I'm not surprised to see you here?"

**Elsewhere**

Kumi gasped and got up. She suddenly couldn't remember what had happened during the last few minutes, only that she was riding the Warthog and then suddenly was blinked into this abandoned street. She glanced over and saw Sam lying next to her, similarly unconscious.

What happened?

Still confused at what was going on, Kumi casually reached around and was surprised to find a shotgun and a pile of shells lying next to her. She didn't have much time to think about however. Sam groaned blinked in surprise, and got up from the ground, similarly dumbfounded at where she was?

"Did you just-?"

Kumi nodded, "Yeah."

They heard the distant groan of zombies. From the sound of it, they couldn't be too far away.

"Let's get out of here." Kumi whispered.

Sam nodded and followed her down the dank and dark alley, unaware that they were being watched.

"_That was an awfully close one."_

"_Far closer than I would like to admit."_

"_That was a pretty smooth move there, cooking that beast thing and getting Sam and Kumi out of there, and modifying their memories in the process."_

"_I have directly interfered with the physical plane, that is nothing to be proud of."_

"_True. Even I though that nuclear blast as a distraction was going a little overboard."_

"_I was not involved in that."_

"_Huh? Oh yeah, still gotta get used to the whole 'omnipresent' thing."_

"_I believe the Elders were right in their reservations about accepting you."_

"_Was that a joke? You're finally learning!"_

If Scohar actually had a physical head, he would've been shaking it right now.

**Nuke Crater**

"What's wrong, surprised to see me?" Paccone smirked.

Karla grinned and looked around. "Nuclear holocaust, dead bodies all over the place, a town completely devoid of life, yeah, I'm pretty sure it involved you somehow."

"Ummm, Sarge?" Leo stepped forward. "Is this something I should know about, or is this one of those 'just keep walking' moments?"

Karla took a momentary glance at Leo, and had to fight to keep the surprise from showing on her face. She distinctly remembered this kid. Leonardo, she believed that was his name. He was Sam's best, if not only, friend. Karla vividly recalled the letters Sam used to send her about all the great times she had with him. What a weird coincidence.

"So," Paccone continued, "What brings a fine, upstanding female officer like you to a run down, zombie infested dump like this?"

"The same reason why a lowly, son of a bitch sergeant is lurking around in a shithole like this." Karla retorted.

Paccone laughed. "How long has it been? Haven't seen you since Menza Gamma, and that was what, one, two years ago?"

"Two." Karla answered. "Suffice to say, those were the best years in my life."

"That's not a polite thing to say, captain."

"Okay," Karl sighed, "Let's cut the crap and get straight to the point. I assume your having problems here of the undead kind. And before you even ask how I know, we've had our little problems as well."

"Right, well, I recommend nothing short of nuking this dump, but there's still a group of civilian survivors holed up here, and two of my people are MIA." Paccone's grim tone betrayed his doubt that any were still alive.


	39. Here Come the Cavalry

Chapter 39: Here Come the Cavalry 

**Robles**

With a company of fresh Marines ready and willing to fight on their side, clearing most of Robles of the undead infestation proved to be a surprisingly easy feat when you possessed mechanized equipment. The creatures meandered blindly along the streets, and it was a simple matter to send in a Warthog, run down a few zombies, and lead the rest into the killzones of ambushing Marines.

Even the few surviving civilians participated in the fight. One of the first tasks D Company performed was to secure the besieged radio station and rescue the few remaining civilian fighters. The squad responsible for securing the area responded to the inquiries of a Sergeant Paccone and Private Carter, but nobody name Collete, or any girl matching her description, was found.

Meanwhile, two platoons of mechanized infantry were scouring the town for three Marines that were listed MIA. A Private Haller discovered, and shot, the remains of one of the missing Marines, Private Siler. No trace of the other two missing Marines, Privates Wellings and Leeds, were found.

It felt nice to actually be on the winning side now, Leo thought as he rode in one of the D Company Warthogs. 30mm guns chattered and gauss cannons whined as more zombies shambled out to meet them. He wasn't, however, worried about the attacking zombies, but more worried about Sam and Kumi. They were still out there. Though all logic was yelling at him that they were most likely dead, Leo seemed to have the feeling, no, the _urge_, that they were still alive, as if somebody were whispering it into his ear…

"Are you sure that doesn't hurt?" Kumi asked, peering around a corner.

"How many times do I have to tell you, yes!" Sam grumbled. Though it didn't hurt as much as before, the wound in her shoulder still throbbed, and it looked like it was infected or something…

Kumi glanced back and shook her head when we saw Sam's apparent discomfort. Though Sam thought otherwise, anybody could read what she was thinking or feeling as if it were displayed on a giant neon sign. She looked at Sam's arm and was aware of the strange infection that was slowly spreading from the wound. Kumi had thought at first that it was a nasty case of gangrene, and gave Sam some antibiotic shots and adrenaline stimms. They seemed to be keeping the infection at bay for the moment, but they weren't killing it like they were supposed to.

If it spread any further, Kumi was afraid that it could-

"Hey!"

Both Marines looked up, surprised by the sudden and hauntingly familiar voice. They saw Collete waving and running towards them.

"Collete?" Sam sputtered, "How did you get here?"

"Come on!" Collete cried out, not answering Sam's question. "It's coming! We have to hide! This way!"

"Wait!" Kumi hesitated, unsure of whether to follow Collete or not.

"What have we got to lose?" Sam asked.

Kumi bit her lip, grabbed Sam's hand, and followed Collete's lead down the street.

**Elsewhere**

Chaos was not happy. _Not_ happy. More of the annoying humans had arrived, complicating his plans further. Worse than that, he had lost track of his weapon. Chaos roared in rage and demolished a nearby brick wall with one swipe of his augmented arm. That human girl was the key. She possessed something the others did not, she was a forerunner to something… spectacular.

But now, Chaos' chances of taking part in that seemed to be slipping from his grasp now. Enraged, he gathered up the remainder of his minions and ordered them to search. Forget those annoying humans. He had to find his precious weapon. She was all that mattered.

**Marine Convoy**

Leo sat in the front seat of the Warthog, staring blankly out to the abandoned, foggy streets. In the back, he could hear Lt. Wellings and Sarge arguing about something, but he didn't care enough to listen in on what. His mind was on Sam, and whether she was still alive or not. To him, she was all that mattered.

"I can't believe they actually gave you _nukes_." Karla said. "If they'd read the reports back on Manticore, they would have never let you within a few miles of anything vaguely radioactive."

"I'm sure they were impressed by my personal charm and charisma." Paccone laughed jokingly.

"I'm sure they would if you had any." Karla grumbled. "And what the hell is up with you putting my little sis in your squad?"

"I guess I have a liking for the pretty ladies."

Karla glared at him. "You better not have done that on purpose."

"I'll never tell."

"Screw you."

"Looking forward to it." Paccone grinned.

Williams snorted, trying to hide his amusement at Karla and Paccone's verbal duel. He tried to keep his attention on the road. Oddly enough, the Marine sitting the passenger seat was strangely quiet…

Karla pulled off from her conversation with Paccone, not because of his oh-so-witty statements, but because of a feeling of dread bubbling up inside of her. Sam was somewhere out there, and ever since they both became Marines, hell, since they were both kids, Karla was always there for Sam, in one form or another. People might have argued that she came out here to eliminate the zombie threat, investigate the strange nuclear detonation, or rescue Paccone and his stranded squadmates. Karla would have used all three reasons just hours before, but now that Sam was involved, she revised to finding little sister, the only family she had left. She was all that mattered.

**Unknown**

"_The pieces are set, the game is in motion. Nothing can be stopped now."_

"_You make it sound like a game of chess."_

"_A bigger board, millions more pieces, and all living."_

"_That doesn't make it sound much better."_

"_We have done all we can. Now it is up to the humans to determine our fate."_

"_You're serious about this."_

"_Our very existence hangs in the balance. If the Enemy is ever able to access the great potential the humans possess, we may very well be doomed."_

"_They can do it, I'm sure of it."_

**Marine Convoy**

"Hey Williams." Karla called out, "Any idea where Holy went off to?"

"Umm, he said something about having a strange feeling about something and went off on his own."

"Ugh, and just when we needed him the most."

"Does he always do that?" Paccone asked, unaware that Holy was actually an Elite.

"You could say it's a cultural thing." Karla replied.

**Elsewhere**

Holy knew that it wasn't right to leave Karla and the others, but he had an odd feeling, no, more of an _urge_, that there was something wrong. With his plasma sword and battle rifle, Holy skulked along the dark streets. There was something here that just wasn't right, as if it had no reason to exist in this world-

Suddenly, two mangled corpses lunged out from under a pile of refuse. Holy unloaded half of his battle rifle clip into the first zombie, and severed the second's head off with a combination of a rifle butt and his superhuman strength. Holy ejected his clip to reload until he heard a revolting gurgling sound, like wet paper being sliding across rotten wood. Listening to the odd sound for a few more seconds, he then realized in horror that it was laughter.

"Aaaahhh, so it's _you_. I have, or rather, this body I inhabit has very vague but powerful memories of _you._ The great betrayer, the traitor, the heretic. The one who will go down in history as the abomination that slaughtered its own people for what, Humanity? What a misguided fool!"

"Who are you?" Holy growled. "Show yourself!"

Suddenly, a massive beast clad in faded power armor emerged from the shadows. Though it looked like an Elite, it was clear that it was no longer one. The monster was easily twice the size of a normal Elite. Its eyes glowed a hideous red, and the teeth on its mouthparts were larger and much, much sharper.

"You may not be who I'm looking for, Elite, but you will prove to be an wonderful addition to my… collection."

Horrified, Holy fought the urge to vomit and raised his weapons, surprised that his arm was trembling. There were few things out there that could make an Elite afraid, and even fewer that could even startle Holy, but he was terrified of this creature standing in front of them.

"Great Forerunners," he muttered, "why have you forsaken us all?"


	40. An Tragic, Yet Ironic Twist of Fate

Chapter 40: A Tragic, Yet Ironic Twist of Fate

Holy was taken by surprise as the massive creature plowed straight into him. Though his personal shielding took the brunt of the damage, Holy was knocked to the ground, winded and disoriented. He coughed and gagged, and tried to get up, but Chaos was already moving. He grabbed Holy's helmet with one massive hand smashed it repeatedly into the alley wall. Holy vision blurred, and he could hear warning sirens as his shields failed. Thinking quickly, he reached for his plasma pistol and fired several wild shots into Chaos' gut at point blank range. Chaos roared, more in rage rather than pain, but it gave Holy enough time to break Chaos' grip on his head and wriggle free.

"You surprise me, Elite." Chaos chortled, keeping his distance. "You are more tenacious than I thought. I will enjoy killing you and adding your remains to my host."

Bile surged up Holy's throat just at the thought of that blasphemy. He checked his shield levels, and realized that the shield unit in his armor was smashed beyond repair during the tussle.

"Feeling vulnerable without your precious energy shielding?" Chaos laughed in a mocking tone. "My, you Elites are such cowardly creatures! You contend that you are the smartest, strongest, and most superior race in this galaxy, yet you hide behind your shielding, your armor, and your False Gods!"

Holy tried to fight the bloodlust building up in his chest, but red was beginning to creep in around the edges of his vision and his fists were clenched so tightly that his armored gauntlets began to crack.

"Only our Prophets our false! But Forerunner are as real as you and me, and I will strike you down in their name!"

Holy activated his plasma sword and charged Chaos with a battle cry loud enough to shake mountains. Chaos smiled and flexed his right arm. It burst apart and a monstrous blade of serrated bone rose to take its place. Holy lunged, his plasma sword locked in for a killing strike, but Chaos casually parried it with the air of a person flicking away a fly.

Chaos noticed Holy's apparent surprise and said, "I know all of your little tricks, Elite. I've made a few modifications to this body's bone structure, and added compounds to make it resistant to your vaunted plasma weaponry."

Holy lunged again, plasma sword raised. Both creatures fought with the ferocity of wild animals. Plasma against bone, righteous fury against calculating cruelty. The magnitude of the duel was enough to shake the very foundations of the earth.

**Elsewhere**

"Do you hear that?" Sam asked.

Kumi turned her head. "Hear what?"

"I don't know." Sam shrugged, regretting that she did due to her shoulder wound, "sounds kinda like fighting."

As if to back up her claim, they could hear distant _thuds _and _clanks_ like two heavy objects repeatedly hitting each other, as well as bloodcurdling roars that would take the fight out of any man.

"Maybe we should get out of here-" Kumi turned back around and immediately stopped.

"What's the problem?" Sam asked, trying to look around her.

"Collete... she's gone." Kumi murmured.

"How's that-?"

"I have no idea."

Marine Convoy 

"Are you sure you can't reach him?" Karla asked.

"No offense, Cap, but what part of 'no' do you not understand?" groaned Private Wheln, 1st squad's communications specialist. "The radios we've got the best out there. Even with all the electro-interference and the buildings, we should still be getting a decent signal."

"You think it could've been damaged?"

"I don't see how." Even though they were conversing over the radio, Wheln's irritation bled through the speaker as if he were trying to explain astrophysics to a three-year old. "The Mark VII transmitters were built to be tough. I mean, the only way you'd be able to break one is if you hit it repeatedly against something hard, like a concrete wall, for instance."

**Dueling Grounds**

A blow from Holy's fist sent Chaos reeling. He staggered backwards, spat out coagulated blood and some broken teeth, and charged Holy with renewed vigor. Holy backed up and parried Chaos' brutal strikes. Chaos swung his bone-sword in a horizontal arc, in an attempt to cleave Holy's head off, but the Elite quickly ducked and saw his chance. He shoved his plasma sword straight into Chaos' belly and twisted the blade for good measure. The abomination gave an inhuman roar of pain as skin melted and organs boiled. With all his might, Holy tore the sword out of Chaos' gut, spattering the alley walls and floor with steaming entrails. Not one to let up the pressure, Holy charged again, making savage cuts against Chaos' body. The zombified Elite roared in rage and pain as deep gashes began appearing all over his body. His left arm was cleaved off, the top few centimeters of his head burned away, half of his neck torn apart, and his chest was cored like an apple. With damage too grievous for even his undead body to manage, Chaos slumped to the floor, defeated and gasping.

"Now." Holy said grimly, standing over Chaos' ruined body. "I will send your cursed soul back to hell, where it belongs."

Holy prepared for the killing blow, but before he could stab down, he heard several strange popping noises, like firecrackers. Suddenly, pain exploded across his back and Holy collapsed to the ground. As he fell, he could see two human Marines standing behind him. He thought for a millisecond that one of them was Karla, but realized that she was far too young. A relative, perhaps? Holy didn't have enough time to ponder this. He tried to push himself backup, but felt three more sharp stings. His vision was blurring again, his bloodlust and adrenaline was exhausted, and more and more of his lifeblood was draining away.

Before he could even complete his task. The humiliation, the injustice.

Holy gave one last cry of pain and slumped to the ground. All he saw was a growing puddle of blood and booted feet walking toward him. Before he passed out however, he heard a whisper, almost inaudible, as if the air itself were talking to him.

"You have lost this battle, heretic. Where are they?" The whisper cackled, "Where are your gods now?"

Holy then felt himself become swallowed by the growing darkness.

"Nice shot." Kumi whispered as Sam lowered her pistol. "What the hell is an Elite doing here?"

"You know," Sam slumped against the wall, evidentially exhausted. "I think it's safe to say that we're at the point where we don't ask anymore questions about anything."

"Are you sure its dead?" Kumi eyed the Elite's body suspiciously. "I mean, those pistols aren't exactly feared for their amazing stopping power."

"Its dead all right." Sam sighed. "Or at least, it will be in a few minutes."

"It's a lucky thing that we didn't have to fight whatever it was facing." Kumi took a quick glance at the burning remains of Chaos. "I'd hate to go up against anything could fight an Elite to a standstill."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be much fun." Sam covered her mouth and coughed, and noticed with detached interest that her glove was now covered with fresh blood.

"Come on, lets get out of here." Kumi bent down and pulled Sam up. "This is going to attract some unwanted guests."

As they made their way down the alley, neither Marine noticed the strange, ominous shadow that skittered behind them in their wake.

**Marine Convoy**

"Hey Cap." The driver called out.

"What is it?" Karla turned away from her conversation with Paccone to face him.

"Uhh, the sensors are picking up some weird readings. I'm picking up faint chatter from a pair of Marine transponders, and the motion sensors are detecting some anomalous movement just to our east. Not much, but enough to trip the programming." The driver pointed to a faint, green dot.

It was an age-old military dream, being able to have perfect combat awareness in the chaos of the battlefield. Being able to know where you are in relation to the enemy as well as your allies was key to winning any engagement, and much time and resources had been poured into improving it. Motion sensors have actually been implemented for centuries, but the main drawback to them was the fact that motion sensors used to pick up _any_ form of motion. The earliest systems had extremely low movement thresholds, so it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between a battle tank or a falling leaf. Only recently, with the advent of AI and other supercomputing programs as well as more advanced detection equipment, the latest motion sensors such as the Cateye Mark XI could detect movement and assign threat levels to them based on the amount of movement. If it were light movement, such as a loose door or creaky signpost the Cateye would simply disregard the movement and strike it from the screen. If the movement was heavier, the Cateye would assign a red/gold color depending on whether the movement was transmitting a standard Marine transponder signal. Any other types of movement that didn't definitively fit into any of the other three categories was tagged as an "unknown" and given a green color. However, even with this efficient system, the Cateye was not perfect. Smart enemies could usually escape detection by staying low to the ground and moving very slowly, though in the fast paced lightning wars of the modern age, targets moving that slow probably wouldn't be much of a threat anyway. It is rumored, however, that special-forces units like the Spartans are equipped with more advanced motion sensors that can overcome these shortcomings, but most of the rumors are unsubstantiated and nobody has ever bothered getting close enough to a Spartan to ask.

Karla keyed her radio. "Richards, Williams, with me! We're going to check this out."

She heard both Marines affirm her orders, and jumped out of the Warthog. Paccone and Leo both made moves to follow her, but she stopped them.

"Wait here, we can handle this." She said before taking off.

Leo smirked as he watched Karla's figure disappear into the white mist. "She totally hates you, doesn't she?"

Paccone nodded gravely. "Leo, I won't lie to you. If you ever find that girl that's right for you, _don't_ act like a total ass in front of her. But more importantly, don't violate that special trust between you, _ever_. I've done that once, and, I hate to admit it, I've regretted it for a long time now."

Leo tilted his head curiously. "Speaking from personal experience sir?"

"Nah," Paccone waved the comment off, "Just random ranting from an old guy like me."


	41. We all have a Past

Chapter 41: We All Have a Past

**Robles**

Karla slowly moved down the dark, alert and aware of every moving shadow and shape. Tarin and Williams were tucked in close behind her, keeping an eye on the flanks and rear. Suddenly, Karla raised her fist in the air to signal a stop.

She found blood. Lots of it.

To say that a battle took place here was a great injustice to what had actually taken place here. Blood was spattered all over the walls and floor, carbon scoring from a potent energy weapon, and mangled lump of burnt flesh lying there like a pile of compost. Holy was definitely here.

"Williams, Richards, see anything?"

Both Marines shook their heads.

Karla was about to move on when she heard a faint _clatter_ of a trash can being knocked over. She looked up and saw that Tarin and Williams had heard it as well. She moved cautiously toward the source of the noise, and was horrified to see Holy's battered and bruised form.

"K-K…" Holy tried to utter something, but Karla only heard it as the incoherent babble of the dying. He tried to get up, but lacked the energy to even twitch a finger.

"Holy…" Karla was completely lost for words, and the only thing she could think of doing was kneeling down and embracing Holy's limp head. She whispered some soothing words into his helmet, words that she had always used whenever Sam was scared or hurt. Tarin and Williams were too far away to hear what she said, however.

"Jesus, what the hell happened?" Williams whispered to Tarin.

"I don't know. Most of the wounds are scratches and bruises, things I would expect from a zombie attack, but those shouldn't have killed him. No, I think those are gunshot wounds in his back."

"Shit man, I didn't know zombies could use guns…"

"They can't." Tarin's eyes narrowed. "Those holes look like they were made from a low caliber pistol, probably an M6D."

"You don't think a _Marine_ could have shot him?"

Tarin shrugged. "It's a possibility. Haven't you been listening to the barracks talk? There are quite a few Marines out there, even in our own division, who think what Holy is, what he represents, is bred in the bone, and nothing can change that. I'm not surprised that somebody would take the opportunity to shoot him in the back."

"Why not?"

"Because." Tarin sighed, suddenly looking decades older. "I probably would have shot him myself."

Meanwhile, Karla was still with Holy, watching over his broken form.

"I-I couldn't stop it…" Holy coughed out blood. "I failed my duty."

"Don't say that." Karla whispered in his ear. "You've done your best, and as an officer and a friend, I could never ask for more."

Holy smiled and handed Karla a strange, alien object with a trembling, bloodstained hand. It took her a few seconds to catch on, and she slowly took it from his hand.

"I can't take this." She said. "It's your plasma sword."

"I am confident that you will find a good use for it." Holy twitched in pain. "Take it and use it to finish what I could not."

**Elsewhere**

"_How sad, he came so close to success."_

"_It was not to be. He served his purpose, however."_

"_How can you be so cruel? He's a living being like you and me. Don't treat him like a chess piece!"_

"_My apologies, but I have been doing this longer than you have been alive. I know how to handle it."_

"_How could you save the twins, yet leave him to die?"_

"_I've already interfered too much. I cannot afford to destroy the laws the Elders set even further."_

"_You can at least let me take care of this lost soul."  
__  
"I can allow that."  
_

"_Rest, poor soldier, rest. Your fight is over."_

**Robles**

Holy could feel it, something small and warm worming into his very being, beckoning for him to let go and come to it. Try as he might, Holy could not fight off the temptation forever. He managed to gather up the strength to look at Karla one last time.

He was dazzled at what he saw.

It was no longer the same Karla he had been with for the past few days. She bathed with bright, golden light and her pale white skin, golden blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes dazzled him to no end. He nearly missed the angelic wings growing out of her back as well. His mind told him that it was probably a hallucination brought on by blood loss, but he didn't care. He was transfixed by those eyes, blue as a thousand seas, and that golden light, bright as a thousand suns. He could actually feel himself weep at the sight of it.

The angelic figure reached out a hand, as if beckoning him to follow. Holy hesitated for a second, and raised his hand to hold hers.

Karla winced in surprise as Holy suddenly grabbed her hand in a seemingly unbreakable grip. She fought back tears of pain as the Elite's powerful hand nearly crushed hers, but just as quickly as it started, the grip loosened and Holy's hand fell limp. She looked down and saw Holy staring at her, tears staining his helmet, and what she perceived as a smile on his face.

Karla didn't know how long she sat there, staring at the dead Elite, but there was something surreal about all of this. Why did his death hit her so hard? Why did it feel so familiar? She realized that she had broken her promise never to feel sorry about the death of a comrade again.

Strangely though, she had a feeling Holy would be back again.

**Marine Convoy**

"So," Leo leaned back in his seat and sighed. "What'd you do to her? Knock her up while she was asleep or something?"

"Nah," Paccone shook his head, "Back then, I didn't even have to _ask_. Besides, it was combat related."

"Feel like talking about it?"

Paccone frowned. "What are you, my personal shrink? Besides it's a long story."

"Apparently, we've got plenty of time to burn." Leo looked out to the street, unsure why Karla and the others hadn't come back yet.

"Well…"

_**Sera Gamma** _

**_2 years ago_**

_Second Lieutenant Karla Wellings hopped out of the landing Pelican and assessed the battle zone she had just landed in. She was the second in command for the 3rd platoon of H Company, of the 108th Marine Regiment. Karla sighed. Second Lieutenants really had no real command. The primary reason they were there was to take the place of the main platoon leader in case he got shot or incapacitated. However, chances were that if the first lieutenant got himself in a situation to get killed, the second would be sure to follow since most platoon leaders insisted that their seconds stay close to him. Karla suspected that they were afraid of seconds showing initiative and acting behind their backs._

_As she moved to join her unit, Karla felt a very strong hand wrap itself around her should and yank her behind a pile of empty ammo crates._

"_Hey there, pretty." Paccone smiled, locking Karla in a hug._

"_You rogue!" Karla sniggered, letting his arms snake lower down her back. "You know, if someone catches us making out here, it'll be pretty bad for unit morale."_

"_You're damn right it will. Think of all those guys who'll lose their bets on what they think I do in my spare time." Paccone rolled his eyes._

"_Spare time?" Karla's lips twisted into a devious grin. "You seem to have a lot of it whenever I'm around."_

"_There's never enough of those Covvie bastards out there to give me any decent trouble."_

_Sergeant Ronald Paccone led 3rd platoon's 1st squad. The men under his command were some of the most experienced and dedicated soldiers you could find in the Marine Corps. He and Karla both caught each other's eye when Karla was first transferred into the 108th, and they both carried on this private relationship ever since._

"_Lieutenant Wellings!" A voice in the distance cried out, "Get your ass out and up here NOW!"_

"_Shit." Karla muttered under breath. "Gotta go, Ron. Duty calls."  
__  
"Wait." Paccone held onto Karla's shoulder and pulled her back towards him. "One for the road."_

_Smiling, Karla brought her lips up to Paccone's and locked them into a passionate kiss that seemed to last for centuries._

"_I will NOT repeat this again, Wellings! Stop fucking around and get up here!"_

_Karla sighed and broke off the kiss. " Time to go." She waved to Paccone and ran off to meet her platoon leader._

_Lieutenant Charles Fisk was probably one of the least respected officers in H Company. Though he was a tough-as-nails Marine, many of the soldiers under his command were left wondering how he managed to pass officer training. He believed that good leadership meant being very, very loud, and seldom did he have any tactical prowess on the battlefield. There was one instance where he ordered his platoon, which was under cover and in a superior position, to charge a heavily fortified Covenant position. The move would have slaughtered the entire platoon if a flight of a hunter-killer pack of Longswords hadn't spotted the fight and strafed the Covenant. The conditions were so bad, many of the soldiers in H Company frequently made bets on who would shoot him first. Of course, in usual officer fashion, Fisk remained completely oblivious to the morale of his own unit._

_When Karla finally reached him, she saw that he had organized all of the platoon squad leaders with him. Obviously, Paccone wasn't there. Paccone's second, Sergeant Grant, came up and asked, "Any idea where Sergeant Paccone his?"_

"_I have no idea." Karla coolly answered._

_Seconds later, Paccone appeared and took his place next to Sergeant Grant. He jokingly nodded to Fisk, who was glaring at him._

"_All right." Fisk said, shuffling through some documents, "As you know, Sera Gamma is a thickly forested planet. Because of all this tree cover, it makes it tough for ONI to get any decent sat-photos of enemy movements." _

_Fisk took out a map and pointed to several circled areas on it. "We've been tasked to scout out this sector of the forest. We're to determine the Covenant MLR (main line of resistance), as well as their force numbers and disposition. The entire platoon is being mobilized for this patrol, so I want all squad leaders to prep their men. Any questions?"_

_Immediately, all four squad leaders raised their hands._

"_Where's our fallback point in case we run into the Covenant?"_

"_Do we have any contingencies in case our squads get separated?"_

"_Do we have any support available for us during this op?"_

_Fisk, apparently confused and irritated at the questions, waved off his squad leaders and said, "Refer all tactical questions to Lieutenant Wellings here. I have to go and submit these reports to Company HQ."_

_Karla sighed in disgust. Fisk always shunted all of the tactical problems of every op on her before every mission. Though she would rather hammer out the details herself rather than let an idiot like Fisk do it, she hated the fact how he never acknowledged her or her work._

"_Okay, here's how it goes. First and Second squads act as the spearhead and will lead the patrol in. Third squad holds position at rally point Alpha. That's all our fallback position, in case you didn't know." Karla continue don as the squad leaders sniggered at the joke. "Fourth squad follows up with First and Second. They'll be support and reserve. If any of the squads lose contact with one another, regroup at rally point Beta, here. Also, in the case of support, the 2nd Armored is on our left flank, but don't expect much help from them. We also have the authority to call in Longsword strikes. It'll take about five minutes for them to reach us on maximum burn, so only call them if you really, really need it. Everybody got it?"_

_The squad leaders nodded._

"_Good." Karla checked her watch. "Get your squads briefed and prepped. I expect to see you here in two hours."_

Three Hours Later 

_Trudging carefully through the forest, 3rd Platoon finally made it to rally point Alpha, their first checkpoint. So far, there were no signs of any Covenant._

"_All right." Karla whispered, "Third squad stays here."_

"_Yes ma'am."_

"_Listen to me." Karla gave a hard stare to Paccone, "It's very important that you STAY in this position. I know you and your tendency to disobey orders and wander, but I need you to stay and hold Alpha. I have a very bad feeling about this patrol, and I want somebody I can trust to watch my back."_

"_You've got my word." Paccone smiled._

"_You promise?" Karla asked. "I' m serious, don't fuck around with this."_

"_I promise." Paccone put a reassuring hand on Karla's shoulder. "Just remember to kill a few of those Covvies for me."_

_Karla softened her stare, kissed Paccone lightly on the cheek, and ran off to join the rest of the platoon._

"_Okay, you heard the lady." Paccone said, turning to his men. "Find some cover and get asses comfortable. We're going to be here for a while."_

**_Bluewater Woods_**

_Karla kept her position behind Lt. Fisk, wary of anything that could be a potential threat. She and Fisk were moving with First Squad, commanded by Sgt. Tyler McKinnon. True to his name, the easygoing Irish sergeant had flame-red hair and an accent only an AI could properly decode. Second Squad, led by the pessimistic Sgt. Robert Phain kept pace with them on their right. Finally, Fourth Squad with the trigger happy Sgt. Simon Creely took up the rear in support._

_Seeing that she was well covered, Karla took the chance to relax and lower her guard a little. Even though she was on an alien planet, Karla felt strangely at home. These forests reminded her about the vast, unexplored virgin woods of Aeola. Karla felt relaxed, because she knew the forest, how it worked, how to find a way through it. After all, a forest was nothing more than a bunch of trees._

_The rest of the platoon, however, didn't share Karla's relaxed attitude. Most of them were born and raised on more urban planets, like Reach, or planets that didn't have many natural forests, like Harvest. They perceived every tree as potential cover for any enemy, every lump of random dirt a booby trap. Even the sheer quiet unnerved them, though Karla knew that it was only because all of the loose branches and leaves absorbed sound. There could be a Covenant army just a few hundred feet away and they would never hear it coming._

**_Rally Point Alpha_**

"_Grant, do you see something?"_

"_See what, sir?" Grant cocked his head curiously at Paccone._

"_Over there." Paccone pointed and looked through his binoculars. "I can see some kind of movement, just a klick or two from here."_

"_One of our patrols?" _

"No." Paccone shook his head. "It's moving **toward** our line."

"_Sir," Grant asked, "What are you saying-"_

"_We're moving out. Get the rest of third squad and tell them to move."_

"_But sir, what about-"_

"_The rest of the platoon can handle themselves." Paccone grinned, "Besides, we can't just let those Covvies reach our door without a proper welcome."_

Bluewater Woods 

_Karla winced as her helmet radio suddenly blasted her ear with noise._

"_Contact! Contact!" Yelled Sgt. Phain's frantic voice. "Covvies all over us!"_

"_Sgt!" Fisk yelled in his radio, "What is your condition?"_

"_Th- they're everywhere, sir! We need-" There was a loud whine of plasma fire and a human scream. "Oh my god, oh my god!"_

_Phain was now yelling orders at his squad, unaware that he forgot to cut the radio link._

"_Wilson! Peterson! Pull it back a little and keep up the covering fire! Matts! Get that damn .30 cal working before they-"_

_There was more screaming, and the chatter of gunfire and the whine of plasma filled the radio again, and Karla could make out Elite battle cries in the background. She turned to Fisk._

"_Sir?"_

"_We move in to assist, now!"_

_Karl didn't need Fisk to tell her that. She was already sprinting to Second Squad's position when she saw something that made her nearly trip over._

_They didn't run into the Covenant line, they ran into an entire Covenant **assault force**. Hundreds of Elites and Jackals filed through the forest, led by thousands of Grunts. Karla swore that she could even see several Hunter pairs in the mix._

_Below, she could see the remnants of Phain's squad frantically trying to hold the tide of alien troops back. The ground was already littered with Covenant and human dead, and it looked as if the resolve of the surviving Marines was about to break. _

"_All units! Fire!" Fisk yelled._

_Immediately, the Marines of First Squad unloaded all of their firepower into the Covenant line. The fusillade was so quick an intense, it actually drove the surprised Covenant attackers back long enough for Second Squad to pull back. Karla looked and saw Phani and two of his Marines acting as a rear guard. One of the Marines took several plasma bolts in the chest and tumbled over. Phain himself was yelling something incoherent at the top of his lungs and firing his pistol at the mob of Covenant. However, as he was firing, an Elite wielding a plasma sword charged forward and all but cut Phain's left hand off._

_Not even phased, Phain dropped his pistol, picked up a discarded .30 cal ammo can, and started bludgeoning the Elite to death with the makeshift weapon. Karla pressed forward, firing her assault rifle at full auto, and grabbed Phain, literally dragging him back to safety._

_Phain looked at the stump of his left wrist glumly. The heat from the plasma sword cauterized the wound, so there was no bleeding._

"_They cut off my hand."_

"_Well, I'm sure the medics can flash you a new one." Karla grunted as she hauled Phain back to First Squad's defensive line._

"_Sir!" She yelled to Fisk. "We have to fall back! There's too many of them for us to handle."_

_Fisk, hesitated, as if contemplating whether to follow his second officer's advice or not. Suddenly, a bright green bolt of energy speared through a nearby tree and roasted two Marines into piles of grey ash. A Hunter pair charged forward, knocking trees down like toothpicks and firing their fuel rod cannons indiscriminately. Karla winced. Without heavy weapons, there was no chance for them to take those Hunters on._

_Out of the blue, four Jackhammer rockets screamed down from behind. Two of the rockets hit the first Hunter simultaneously, blowing it to pieces of roasted flesh and armor. The second Hunter managed to deflect a rocket with its shield, but didn't notice that the second rocket had lodged itself in the barrel of its fuel rod cannon. As the Hunter raised its weapon to fire, the cannon exploded, the lethal shrapnel tearing the Hunter apart_

_Fourth Sqaud had heard the fighting and pressed forward. Now, with heavy support, the Marines could pull off a proper fighting retreat._

"_Fall back!" Fisk yelled. "Fall back to rally point Alpha!"_

_First Squad and the remains of Second Squad turned and sprinted back in the direction of the Marine lines. Fourth stayed for a few more seconds, pouring heavy machine gun and rocket fire into the advancing Covenant before packing up and following suit._

_Reeling from the losses incurred from the fierce firefight, the Covenant forces pressed their attack and followed the retreating enemy._

_As she was running, Karla yelled, "Merl!"_

_Corporal Merl was First Squad's Navy Liason. Besides Fisk, she was the only other soldier who was authorized to call in Navy airsrikes. _

"_Call in the cavalry! We need Longswords here ASAP! Got that?"_

_Merl nodded and started yelling requests into her radio. Plasma shots were starting to flare out from the brush behind them, setting bushes and trees ablaze. Karla kept her squads pushing foward, they were almost at Rally Point Alpha, where Paccone and his squad would be waiting to-_

_Karla skidded to a halt when she reached the clearing. There was nobody there. No Paccone, no Third Squad._

_Fucking Paccone, where did he go? At the moment where she needed him the most._

_At that moment, Fisk apparently regained his nerve, and began barking out orders at the other Marines._

"_All units stop!" He yelled. "Hold position! We'll make our stand here!"_

"_What!" Karla stared incredulously at Fisk. "A 'stand', sir? You are not General Custer, and this sure as hell won't be another Little Bighorn!"_

_Karla was taken by surprise when Fisk backhanded her in the face. Stumbling backward, Karla was stunned by Fisk's sudden and savage response._

"_I'm the one in charge." He snarled. _

_Seeing that he made his point, Fisk turned and charged at the advancing Covenant, screaming and firing. Karla really had no choice but to follow him. The next few minutes of combat were the most savage Karla had ever seen. Marines and Covenant clashed in a brutal melee. Soldiers that expended their clips had no time to reload, and resorted to using their weapons or knives as close combat weapons. She saw men that she had known since boot camp, since she joined the 108th, fight and die._

_Merl screamed and choked on her own blood as a pack of Elites hacked her apart with their energy blades. Matt and Peterson were atomized by stray fuel rod cannon. Sgt Mckinnon yelled a battle cry as he fired his assault rifle on full auto. He was dead by the time the last round left the chamber. Silks was pinned to a tree trunk by wood splinters from an exploding tree. Countless others fell. Karla herself fought back savagely, firing off rounds from her rifle and using its stock to crack open the skulls of Grunts, Jackals, and Elites alike. _

_All in the meanwhile, Fisk continued to press his platoon forward to certain death._

_Karla, still trying to fight off a squad of Grunts and protect Phain finally fell. Plasma rounds burned through her left bicep, collarbone, and incinerated her right knee. Gasping in pain, tears flowing down her face from the smoke and grief of watching her own platoon being slaughtered in front of her, Karla took out her pistol with her intact arm and started firing at anything that moved._

_Suddenly, there was a great flash of light, and a loud buzzing sound filled the air. Karla glanced up to see three dark, delta shaped craft in the sky. The Navy Longswords spotted the firefight and began lending their firepower to aid the embattled Marines. 150mm cannons roared and laser guided missiles screamed through the air. The Covenant, already demoralized by the fierce resistance the Marines gave wavered and ran._

"_Come on!" Fisk yelled, seeing the Covenant retreat. "We've got them on the run now!"_

_Another Longsword swooped past, strafing the retreating Covenant with cannon fire and ripping trees apart like paper. When the smoke finally cleared the Covenant were gone._

_All that was left standing were barely half a dozen Marines. Six men and women from a patrol of thirty six. Fisk was not among those six Marines. Just scant minutes later, reinforcements arrived to relieve the survivors. ONI agents quickly whisked them away for debriefing while others stayed behind to analyze the battlefield._

_One anonymous ONI investigator noticed that one of the dead Marine's wounds were not consistent with Covenant weaponry. Further investigation revealed that Lieutenant Charles Fisk was shot in the back several times by a Marine issue M6D pistol. The main ONI office processed the report and sent it to Colonel Levi Mensk of the Military Police for further investigation._

_Inquiries were made about the whereabouts of Third Squad, led by Sergeant Paccone. Through debriefings and radio transcripts, it was discovered that Paccone managed to intercept a Covenant infiltrator unit. This unit was acting as a vanguard for the main assault unit that the rest of third platoon ran into, though their combat threat still remained controversial, due to the fact that the assault unit was prematurely mobilized. _

_Out of the six surviving Marines, only two were injured. Sergeant Robert Phain and Second Lieutenant Karla Wellings._

**_One day later_**

_The survivors of the now infamous "Bluewater Massacre" were sitting around a fire in a Marine camp well behind friendly lines. The losses to the platoon were so severe, that it was being temporarily inactivated, and the survivors would be split up and integrated into other units. Being the last time any of them would see each other again, the survivors gathered for one final meeting._

_Phain flexed his newly flash cloned left hand as he sipped his beer. He glanced around at the other surviving Marines sitting around the fire. Privates Remkin and Awal from First Squad, Corporal Hickson and Private Wayne from Second Squad, and of course, Karla Wellings._

"_So... who do you think made the shot?"_

_The other Marines knew what he was talking about. There were rumors flying all over about who might've shot Fisk. Truth be told, everybody in the platoon had a motive, and definitely the means, to kill him._

_Hickson shook his head. "Not me. Me and Wayne were too occupied trying to find some cover from the bombardment."_

"_Well, I sure as hell didn't shoot him." Remkin said, tossing away his empty beer can._

"_Well, I'm not exactly too sure. I mean, there was so much happening, with all the shooting and the bombing.." Awal admitted._

_Everybody then looked at Karla._

_Karla was silent for a while, as if thinking of what to say. Then she finally spoke. "You know what, I don't really care who shot Fisk or how. It's just a case of friendly fire. He was simply just in the wrong place at the wrong time."_

_Karla then got up. Leaning on her crutch, she saluted the five Marines and without waiting for a return salute, limped away into the darkness. Making sure they couldn't see, Karla slipped her new Lieutenant stripes into her pocket._

"_Karla?"_

_Karla turned to see Paccone standing behind her, with relief on his face._

_Paccone stepped forward. "Karla, I just want you to know that--"_

_He had no time to react to the fierce blow Karla gave him. Paccone fell over, and realized that his face was wet. He wiped his nose and found out that it was blood._

"_Get out of my sight." Karla whispered, limping away on her crutch. She continued onward for a few seconds and paused just long enough to say, "And don't call me Karla anymore, It's Lieutenant Wellings to you now."_

_As she limped away, Karla muttered a quiet promise to herself. One that she would stay faithful to for another two years._

**Present Day**

"Holy shit." Leo muttered in disbelief. "She actually did that? How come she didn't just shoot you when you met again?."

"Well," Paccone sighed. "After transferring out for her new command, she had some time to think things through. We also met each other occasionally as the campaign wore on. I guess she eventually began to understand what I did and why,though she's never really gotten around that bitterness towards me. That betrayal of her trust really struck her heard. I wasn't there when she needed me the most, and it hurt her more severely than any wound she got during that battle."

"Wow..." Leo thought about what it would be like if Sam hated his guts like that. He then resolved to himself that if he ever found her again, he'd never leave her side, no matter what.

"That, my friend, is the ultimate lesson about following orders." Paccone grinned darkly. "Disobey them, and shit happens."

**Elsewhere**

Sam tossed aside Kumi's limp, unconscious form. She would have killed the girl if it weren't for some kind of subconscious block in her mind. No matter, she would get around that eventually.

Sam slowly walked away, a blank, dead look in her eyes. There was also a large, tumor like growth on her left shoulder, as if some sort of small, balloon sized creature had dug its way into her flesh...


	42. The End Is Upon Us!

Chapter 42: The End is Upon Us!

Chaos growled. Even though he had fulfilled his goal of possessing his weapon, it was premature. Even though it was a necessary act, there wasn't enough time for the virus to fully suppress her consciousness. As a result, emotions and memories from his hosts mind would float up and they continually pestered him like gnats. He shoved aside a particular memory of the host playing and laughing with a uniformed man. Chaos could smell blood, and he was in a mood to shed some as well.

"Are you sure you don't need help with that?" Tarin asked, watching Williams struggle with the case.

"Yeah." Williams grunted as he tried to work the locking mechanism. "It's really not all that different from a Rubix cube. You just have to manipulate the right way..."

Suddenly, the case snapped open with a hiss as refrigerant gas flowed out of the opening.

"Hey, success!" Williams cracked a smile and pried the case open. Inside were three syringes filled with a viscous green substance and an injection pistol. There was no clue to their purpose except for copious amounts of biohazard symbols labeled all over the case and its contents.

"So what have we got here?" Karla asked, suddenly appearing next to Williams.

Williams hesitated for a second. Just minutes before, Karla looked as if she were about to break down. Now, however, she seemed to have magically regained the calm composure that seemed to define her.

"I have no idea." He replied. "Maybe it-"

"Get down!" Tarin screamed.

Instinctively, Karla and Williams fell to the ground and covered their heads, expecting incoming fire. Contrary to their expectations, fully laden dumpster soared over their heads. It smashed against a nearby wall, spattering the area with rotting garbage and refuse. Tarin and Williams raised their rifles to fire but some unseen force picked them both up and slammed them against the opposing walls of the alley. Karla rolled onto her belly, grabbed her pistol, and aimed. She was shocked to find that she nearly pulled the trigger on her own sister.

"Sam?" Karla stood up in disbelief. "What are you-"

Karla suddenly saw that there was something _wrong_. Sam's expression was somewhat blank and emotionless, and there was this curious growth on the back of her left shoulder. Before she could make any connections, however something that felt like an invisible truck slammed into Karla's chest. Falling over and gasping for air, Karla tried to figure out just what the hell was going on. Sam, or whatever she was now, slowly made her way towards Karla, a malevolent glow in her eyes. For some inexplicable reason though, Sam hesitated and stopped, giving Karla, Tarin, and Williams enough time to recover from the savage attack.

Chaos howled in rage. Another annoying memory had popped up and destroyed his focus. He shoved aside the image to two girls laughing with each other under a golden sun.

While Sam was distracted, Tarin and Williams took the opportunity to aim and fire their battle rifles. Unfortunately, six zombified Elites leapt down from the rooftops, forming a meat shield for Sam. Two of them bounded towards Tarin and Williams. The remaining four all set their sights on Karla.

Karla fired her pistol at the incoming undead aliens, but the small caliber rounds had little to no effect. Desperate for a weapon, Karla suddenly remembered the plasma sword Holy gave her. She dug the small device out of her belt flicked the thumb trigger. The sword hummed to life in blazing blue glory. Its sudden ignition seemed to drive the incoming Elites back for a second or two. Not wanting to waste a good opportunity, Karla slashed at the closest Elite, cutting it diagonally through the chest. The second Elite tried to flank her, but Karla managed to swing the blade around and completely behead the undead horror. Unfortunately, she put too much power into her swing, and she knew she wouldn't be able to recover in time to block the third Elite.

There was a lound _bang_ and _chick-clack_ of a shotgun, and the third Elite went down in a cloud of blood and vaporized bone.

"I hope I didn't miss anything." Kumi grinned. She turned and began firing at the fourth Elite, keeping it pinned.

Karla dashed forward and skewered the Elite in the belly with the plasma sword. The blade hissed and sang as it ate away at the Elite's flesh, but it refused to die and raised its fist to attack. Thinking quickly, Karla turned her skewering motion into an upward slash,. The fourth Elite came apart like a blossoming flower.

Meanwhile, the other two Elites went down in a hail of concentrated gunfire. Paccone and Leo had arrived to backup Tarin and Williams.

Leo took one look at Sam and backed away in horror, lost for words and unsure of what to do.

It was just open ground between Karla and Sam, who still seemed to be somewhat distracted.

"Sam..." Karla said, inching forward. "Don't you remember who I am?"

Sam stayed silent. Only the humming of the plasma sword seemed to answer the question.

Without hesitation, Tarin, Paccone, and Williams fired several bursts at Sam. The rounds sped toward Sam and then... nothing. It was as if the bullets had literally disappeared into thin air. The only thing that the fusillade seemed to achieve was to snap Sam out of the trance.

"Sam-"

Before Karla could finish her sentence, she collapsed onto the ground, writhing in pain. It felt as if her entire body was on fire. She dropped her plasma sword, which deactivated and clattered uselessly onto the ground.

Paccone, Tarin, Williams, and Kumi tried to come forward to help, but the same invisible force that was smothering Karla pushed them away like a supernova.

That only left Leo to anything about it. He slowly raised his rifle and aimed it at Sam's head.

"Dont' make me do this." He whispered. "Don't make me do this."

Sam turned her gaze at him and he looked into her eyes. He realized that this sadly wasn't the Sam he used to know anymore. He was about to pull the trigger when a nearby mailbox suddenly lifted itself from the ground and flung itself at him. Leo sidestepped and fired, but the move spoiled his aim. Instead of the quick, painless headshot he was hoping for, the round went wide and struck Sam's left shoulder.

The growth on her back seemed to quiver, and an ungodly shriek that no mortal lung could mimic filled the air.

Karla blinked and got up. The pain that was engulfing her was suddenly gone. She picked up her plasma sword and activated it, and suddenly remembered something. It was a risk, but if they could pull it off...

Chaos was aware that the humans were planning something. They had taken cover behind another alley wall, but e could see their mouths moving, and he could seem them pointing to something, but he couldn't make it out. The host thoughts were blurring his focus. He had to spend more and more energy keeping them suppressed. There was something about these humans... some mental block in the host that wouldn't allow him to use her full range of powers. Chaos cursed and raged at his host, and finally forced it into submission. He looked at the group of humans. They all had some sort of connection to the host, so he had to eliminate them quickly. He caught sight of the most dangerous one and focused his power.

Leo suddenly began to hear a faint buzzing in his head. He shook his head to try and get rid of it, but it was still there, in the back of his skull, hanging like a stubborn mold. He tried covering his ears, but the buzzing was now getting louder...

"Are you sure we can do this?" Paccone asked. "I don't see any way out of this besides having to put the poor girl out of her misery."

"Don't you dare say that." Kumi growled.

"Just stick to the plan." Karla said cooly. "Do your parts and we can win this. What's she doing now?"

Tarin peeked around the corner.

"Still seems distracted by something. I say we've got a few more seconds."

"You okay there, Carter?" Paccone asked, seeing Leo somewhat discomforted.

"I'm okay." He mumbled.

"Okay, lets go go go!"

Chaos saw them coming. He had to do it fast. He had to do it now.

The buzzing was getting unbearable now, to the point where it felt like his head would explode. Leo thought he was drooling, and wiped his mouth, only to find his glove covered in blood.

Tarin and Williams dashed toward Sam to draw her attention away from Karla and the others. Sam glanced at them and fired a telekinetic blast that sent them both skidding away onto the street. Paccone, with one of the syringes from the case, lunged at Sam, only to find himself suspended in midair, as if he were floating in water. Kumi tried to come in from behind, but found herself lying in a daze on the other side of the alley. Karla, with the last syringe, managed to grab Sam and almost managed to jab her with the syringe until an invisible hand slapped it away. The plastic vial clattered away and rolled to stop at Leo's feet.

"Leo!" Karla yelled, still maintaining her hold on Sam. "Throw me the syringe!"

Everything seemed to be a blur to Leo now, as if he were seeing everything underwater. He could hear somebody shouting to him, but he couldn't hear the words. That damn buzzing sound was drowning it out. He also felt very fatigued. Maybe if could lie down for a few minutes.

Chaos could feel the human's life slipping away. Just a few more seconds, and one of his biggest obstacles would be out of the way. He concentrated more into the attack, making sure to keep the other humans at bay, and even though one of them had a hold of the host, she wouldn't be able to do anything.

Suddenly, _another_ memory appeared. Of all the times! He saw two children, the host and a little boy with messy brown hair playing a game of 'Marines vs. Pirates'. Chaos screamed in rage.

The world flooded back into Leo's mind like the incoming tide. It seemed so quiet now, and he realized the buzzing was gone.

"Leo! The syringe!"

Karla's shout seemed to snap him back to reality. He looked down and saw the fluid-filled vial sitting at his feet. He snatched it up and threw it. Karla caught it and without hesitation, jabbed the needle directly into the growth on Sam's back. The growth quivered and twitched, as if it were about to explode. Paccone and Kumi then recovered and jabbed their syringes into Sam's neck and thigh.

The growth exploded in a mist of blood and pus, and Sam's eyes suddenly regained their personality.

"Where... am I?" She asked before collapsing to the ground.

Chaos skittered away into the darkness. His plans were ruined, but he was still alive. He would be back to bring vengeance, to destroy, to-

"Well well, what do we have here..." Paccone muttered to himself as he pinned a small, ugly critter under his boot. The balloon-like insect struggled against his foot and tried to wrench itself free. An ugly _cruch_ and a dirty boot marked the end of Chaos.

**Elsewhere**

"_I almost thought we wouldn't make it."_

"_I had everything under control. Chaos' defeat was inevitable."_

"_But you know what the price is..."_

"_I am well aware of the consequences. I believe their well-being is safe in your hands?"_

"_I've done it before, I can do it again. Ah, Askaard, I was wondering when you would arrive."_

"_It is time, Scohar."_

**Mackhall Airbase, Several Days Later**

"You understand," The ONI spook said, looking at the assembled Marines, "that everything you saw these past few days _didn't_ happen. Under the ONI Security Act Section VIII, all records of said event are to be classified and all copies destroyed. All participants are under a state of nondisclosure. Anything that violates the NDA will result in a military court marshal. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Pacoone stood up. "Can you just shut the fuck up and let us go already?"

**UNSC _Freedom_**

Captain Rogers tried to make himself comfortable in the new bridge seat. The _Freedom_ was now fully operational, and would undergo field trials to test its new systems. It was evident that _Freedom_ was a new ship. A sharp, disinfectant smell permeated every surface of the ship, and the engines had the high pitched "baby whine" that would take numerous cycles of continuous use to eventually transform it into the low hum characteristic of all UNSC ships.

"Sir?"

Rogers turned to his new sensor officer, Ensign Davies.

"What is it, Ensign?"

"There's something weird. I don't know if its because these new systems are faulty, or-" 

"Get to the point, Ensign." Rogers sighed.

"All of the Covenant ships have disappeared from the screens."

Rogers nearly gagged. "What!"

"Look for yourself," Davies pointed at the blank sensor screen. "There's nothing out there."

"Joshua!" Rogers summoned the _Freedom's_ AI.

Joshua appeared on the holo screen, displaying himself as a moving chessboard. "Hello, would you like to play a game?"

"Not right now." Rogers answered, "Are the ship's sensor units working?"

"One hundred percent, Captain." Joshua replied coolly. "Ensign Davies' observations are correct."

"Any idea why there's nothing out there anymore?"

"The sensors detected what seemed like multiple Slipspace jumps earlier, but the techs wrote it off as interference from the system's magnetic fields."

"Now why would they all just up and leave like that..." Rogers asked himself.

"I know, it makes little tactical sense." Joshua concurred.

"Sir!" Ensign Walters, the comm officer shouted. "Incoming message from FLEETCOM!"

"Patch it through." Rogers sighed.

"Decrypting." The comm officer glanced at the screen. "Message decrypted."

"Is it authentic?" Rogers asked.

Walters looked at the code and called it out as it scrolled.

"The code is: Alpha Alpha Gamma Foxtrot Sierra Bravo Charlie Bravo Zulu Echo."

At the same time, Roger's first mate, Lieutenant Sink, ran in with a code module. He cracked it open and read out the exact same code.

"Sir, I believe the message is authentic." He declared.

"I concur, the message is authentic." Joshua chimed in.

Rogers nodded and glanced at his data screen.

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND FLEETCOM MESSAGE

TO: ALL SHIP COMMANDERS

PRIORITY: ALPHA

ALL UNSC SHIP AND FLEET COMMANDERS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY ORDERED TO, ARE ORDERED TO DROP WHATEVER TASK THEY ARE PERFORMING. IMMEDIATE RECALL OF ALL SHIPS IS IN EFFECT. ALL SHIPS ARE TO JUMP TO COORDINATES ZERO ZERO ZERO. COLE PROTOCOL IS STILL IN EFFECT.

END MESSAGE

Rogers stared at the screen for what seemed like an eternity. Surely this couldn't be real.

"Are you sure that this message is authentic?"

"Absolutely." Joshua and Sink both said at the same time.

Rogers sighed. If this message meant what it thought it did, then God help them all.

"Sink, power up our Slipspace drives, order the _Valiant_ and _Fidelity_ to do the same. I'm sure their captains have received this message as well. After that, gather up as many Marines as possible and load them up into the ships. Joshua, I want you to plot three random jump coordinates using the Cole Protocol."

"Consider it done." Joshua said. "What are our destination coordinates?"

Rogers closed his eyes. There was only one planet with the origin coordinates. The center of all known Human space.

"Earth, Joshua. Coordinates zero zero zero."

**Mackhall Airbase**

The entire base was in a state of chaos. Sudden orders had just flown in that every single Marine and piece of equipment was to be taken and shipped to the warships for immediate transport. Trucks, heavy lifters, cargo carriers, and Marines dashed around in a massive swarm trying to find their way around. Dozens of Pelicans and their larger cousins, Heron carryalls, filled the air as they ferried Marines and equipment up to one of the three orbiting warships.

"You can't be serious." Karla sighed as she leaned back in the Warthog's passenger seat. "You wake me in the morning, I don't get any decent cup of coffee, and you're telling me that we're moving out?"

"Hey, I'm only doing what I was told." Williams shrugged. "Contrary to what you believe, you are _not_ on top of the world."

"Just shut up and drive, Sergeant."

"Uhhh, Cap?" Williams slowed the Warthog down. "You might want to check this out..."

Karla looked up to see a Marine on the side of the road trying to wave them down. She told Williams to stop the Warthog and waved for the Marine to come over. As the Marine came closer, Karla was somewhat surprised to see that it was Sam.

"Hi Karla- I mean, Captain." Sam blushed. This wasn't the time or place for such familiarity."

"Private." Karla coolly stared at Sam. Good thing Sam didn't remember what happened in the previous few days. It would've been awkward to explain to her how close she came to killing her. "Last I saw, you were registered in the Marine hospital and hadn't been cleared for duty yet."

"I can still use my arm." She moved her left shoulder around a bit, with some obvious discomfort and conceded, "It doesn't hurt that bad."

Karla narrowed her eyes. "The moment I let you onto this Warthog, you're going to be AWOL."

Sam nodded. "I know. I just want to-"

"I know." Karla cut her off. Paccone's face suddenly flitted past her mind. "I remember the first time I got wounded. Get in the back."

Sam smiled and began to make a move to hug Karla. She quickly recovered, however, and merely turned it into a motion to throw her bag into the rear of the Warthog. It pained her, and probably Karla too, to be so restricted by military protocol.

"When we get to the pickup point," Karla continued, "I expect to see your name in the ship's infirmary list."

"Yes Captain."

"And that you stay with your old unit."

"Yes Captain."

"And you go fooling around with that Carter kid until you're a few years older."

"I don't know how to respond to that, Captain."

Karla smiled. "And stop calling me Captain. If I wanted to feel good about my rank, I'd boss around poor Williams here. Oh, and speaking of Williams," Karla turned to her driver, "Any word of this gets out of the Warthog, and I'll personally make sure that ONI disappears your ass."

Williams paled slightly as Sam snickered and responded, "My lips are sealed, Captain."

**UNSC Freedom**

Leo had lost track of Paccone... again. There were so many Marines and crewmen milling about in the hangar deck, trying to find out where to go. Moving through the tide of bodies, Leo accidentally shoved another Marine to the ground.

"Sorry man." Leo bent down to help up the fallen Marine.

"No problem." The Marine took Leo's hand and hoisted himself up. "Hey, you're with the 81st Marines, right?"

"That's right."

"Hey." The Marine held his hand out. "I just got transferred into your unit. Looking forward to working with you. What's your name?"

Leo shook the Marine's hand and replied, "It's Leonardo, though you could just call me Leo. Yours?"

"Scohar." The Marine said simply.

Leo nodded, cataloguing the Marine's name for future use. He seemed to be a pretty odd fellow. Not too young, not too old, something seemingly out of place about him. But before Leo could linger on the fact anymore, the Marine disappeared within the mass of bodies. Leo sighed and thought about what he had gotten himself into. He had joined the Marines to fight Covenant, not zombies or mutants, or even his own best friend. And now, after that shit storm, he was going back out to fight again at God knows where.

When the pessimism threatened to engulf him, Leo remembered the simple Marine motto, one that had remained true over the centuries. _Semper Fidelis_. Always faithful. That's what a Marine always had to remember, even if it meant that they would die in the process.

TO BE CONTINUED

PREVIEW OF THE SEQUEL: ALL OR NOTHING

The _Freedom_ banked hard to avoid the Covenant plasma torpedoes. The Covenant warships continued to fire out bright spears of energy in an attempt to take down the Human ship.

"Joshua!" Rogers yelled, clinging to his bridge seat. "How long until we get out of the gravity well?"

"Let's just say I'm powering up the shields now." Joshua said, destroying a knight in his chessboard avatar.

An explosion rocked the ship. One of the plasma torpedoes had found its mark.

"Energy levels are dropping." Joshua announced, swapping his chessboard for checkers. "I doubt our shields will hold for the next hit."

"How about diverting power?"

"The only remaining source of power are the engines, but if we divert power from them, we won't have enough to attain the necessary velocity for a Slipspace jump."

Rogers glanced at his tactical display again. The _Valiant_ and _Fidelity_ were doing their best to hold the Covenant picket formation, but that meant he still had to deal with two cruisers with a ship that had multiple core systems failing in succession. These were not good odds.

However, before Rogers even had a chance to give another order, a fusillade of MAC rounds fired from nowhere, shredding apart the Covenant formation. Rogers blinked in surprise. In some sort of sick coincidence, or divine intervention, another UNSC battlegroup had chosen the almost the _exact same_ random jump coordinates he had. He looked on as the fresh reinforcements annihilated the confused enemy fleet.

Meanwhile, belowdecks, Scohar smiled. They were certainly being watched by a god, or gods, or whatever controlled the fate of this universe.

AN: All I would like to say is thanks to those readers who loyally stayed with the story, even though my inconsistent updates and whatnot. I've learned a few lessons through writing this whole thing, so the next story arc won't drag on as long. On that subject, don't forget to look out for the sequel to Mist!


End file.
